In the past, all three planets were rocky planets, the surface of which was composed of solid metals and silicates. Among them, our Earth is the largest planet, the mass and radius of Venus is only about 82% and 95% of the Earth, respectively, the mass and radius of Mars only account for about 11% and 53% when compared to our planet. Over the past few decades, humans have launched many unmanned probes to Venus and Mars, and it turns out that the environments on these two planets are very harsh. Venus is too hot, and Mars is too cold, and there is no oxygen on either planet, so life on Earth could not exist in such an environment, and astronomers could not find it. see any other traces of life there. So, how were Venus and Mars 4 billion years ago? Why are Venus and Mars now barren, and only our planet is habitable? Calculated based on the radiant power of the sun, Venus and Mars also operate in the same habitable zone as Earth, which means they can receive just the right amount of solar radiation to water. on their surface can still be in a liquid state. Astronomers speculate based on current signs on Venus and Mars and surmise that there may have been an ocean of liquid water on both Venus and Mars 4 billion years ago. For the first few hundred million years, Venus was a warm and humid planet. In the primordial oceans of Venus, life was fully qualified to evolve. They could be carbon-based life like life on Earth or could be other life forms. However, Venus’s habitable period did not last long. Because Venus is so close to the sun, and the temperature of the sun gradually increases over time, making Venus hotter and hotter, and a large amount of liquid water has also been evaporated. At the same time, the volcanic activity on Venus is also gradually becoming more active and continuously releasing carbon dioxide, causing a strong greenhouse effect. Without oceans, carbon dioxide would not be neutralized. They enter the atmosphere and cause a severe greenhouse effect, which will increase the temperature on Venus. Meanwhile, on Earth, the oceans, plants and minerals absorb large amounts of carbon dioxide, so the Earth will not become too hot due to the strong greenhouse effect during that period. Eventually, Venus’ greenhouse effect was completely out of control, liquid water completely evaporated, and life could have been destroyed. According to data returned by the Venus probe, the current concentration of carbon dioxide in Venus’s atmosphere is as high as 96.5%, and the surface atmospheric pressure is 91 times higher than the Earth’s surface. Under the influence of this extreme greenhouse effect, Venus has essentially reached thermal equilibrium, and the average surface temperature is as high as 464 degrees Celsius. Although it is essentially impossible to have life on the surface of Venus today, some astronomers speculate that there may be some strange life in the atmosphere of Venus. In the sky high enough above the surface of Venus, the atmospheric pressure will be moderate, and the temperature will not be high, possibly for the synthesis of organic matter and the evolution of life. On the other hand, ancient Mars was probably also a habitable planet. Currently, on Mars there is a large amount of water-washed terrain, and there are some iron ores that can only be generated in the aquatic environment, which is strong evidence for the existence of a large amount of water. liquid water on ancient Mars. So, how did Mars become such a uninhabitable planet as it is? At present-day Mars’ North Pole, there is a giant basin whose surface is equivalent to two-fifths of the surface of Mars. This huge Arctic basin was formed by a massive collision. Studies have shown that about 3.9 billion years ago, a dwarf planet (about the size of Pluto) with a diameter of about 2,000 km collided with the north pole of Mars. This massive collision completely changed the core of Mars, causing activities inside Mars to quickly stop, and the Martian magnetic field also gradually weakened and finally almost disappeared. lost. Without the protection of the magnetic field, the solar wind gradually strengthens and melts the atmosphere of Mars, liquid water continues to evaporate, causing Mars to quickly become a barren land. Currently, there is almost no atmosphere on Mars, but there is still some water ice in the polar regions. In addition, there may be a seasonal amount of liquid water in some areas of Mars, which has a high salt content and may be temporarily liquid in the low-temperature Martian environment. At the moment, the temperature on Mars is very low, the average temperature is only -63 degrees Celsius. If humans want to settle on Mars in the future, the first thing to do is to strengthen the star’s magnetic field. Mars and produces large amounts of greenhouse gases to “heat” Mars and melt the solid water that exists on Mars. Mars is much smaller than Earth, so it would have cooled from its molten state at its inception faster than Earth, so liquid water on Mars may have appeared earlier, which could This means that life on Mars may have formed and evolved earlier than our planet. Therefore, there are conspiracy theories that, when celestial bodies collided with Mars, the rocks that were thrown into space by the collisions could have carried the germ of life on Mars into space, and then some someday fall to Earth, becoming the source of life on Earth. And perhaps by coincidence, life on Earth also began to form around the same time that Mars’ North Pole collided. From the point of view of time, this is consistent. In addition, astronomers have discovered traces of suspected life in meteorites on Mars that have fallen to Earth. Life on Earth may have originated on Mars, but this has so far required more convincing evidence. In the past, the Curiosity rover has detected some carbon-containing organic substances in the rocks on Mars, which may be evidence that ancient Mars once had a few living things. Even now, it is still possible for life on Mars, they did not go extinct billions of years ago, but moved into the Martian underground and developed a unique survival mechanism to adapt to the harsh environment. harsh on this planet. Compared to Venus and Mars, our planet is very lucky. For billions of years, Earth has always been a habitable planet, so hundreds of millions of species have appeared here. Our Earth is like a “chosen planet”, a moderate distance from the sun, with a magnetic field that can resist solar radiation so that all kinds of life can continue to multiply and develop. Although it cannot be ruled out that some planets in the solar system (such as Europa) also harbor life, the environments of those planets are very different from those of Earth, and most life on Earth is not ruled out. Soil cannot exist there. In the near future, Earth will still be the only planet inhabited by humans in the universe.

The Sun’s atmosphere can be as hot as 1 million degrees Celsius. This increase in temperature, despite the increased distance from the Sun’s primary energy source, has been observed in most stars. In 1942, Swedish scientist Hannes Alfvén hypothesized that the magnetizing waves of plasma could carry large amounts of energy along the Sun’s magnetic field from the interior to the corona, passing through the photosphere. before exploding with heat in the upper atmosphere of the Sun. This hypothesis has been tentatively accepted, but there is no evidence that these waves exist. Recent research by scientists finally confirms Alfvén’s nearly 80-year-old hypothesis and brings us one step closer to harnessing this high-energy phenomenon on Earth. The sun is made up almost entirely of plasma Halo problems have been around since the late 1930s, when the Swedish spectrographer Bengt Edlén and the German astrophysicist Walter Grotrian first observed phenomena in the sun’s corona that could only be observed. present if its temperature is a few million degrees Celsius. This represents temperatures up to 1,000 times hotter than the photosphere below it, which is the surface of the Sun that we can see from Earth. Estimating the heat of the photosphere has always been relatively simple: we simply measure the light reaching us from the Sun and compare it with spectral models that predict the temperature of the light source. Through decades of research, the temperature of the photosphere has always been estimated to be around 6,000°C. Edlén and Grotrian’s discovery that the Sun’s corona is much hotter than the photosphere – albeit farther from the core. of the Sun, its supreme source of energy – has given the scientific community a headache. Scientists looked at the properties of the Sun to explain this difference. The sun is made up almost entirely of plasma, which is a highly ionized gas that carries an electrical charge. The movement of this plasma in the convection zone – the upper part of the sun – generates enormous electric currents and strong magnetic fields. These magnetic fields are then pulled up from the Sun’s interior by convection, and enter its visible surface in the form of sunspots, which are clusters of magnetic fields that can form a variety of magnetic structures. differences in the Sun’s atmosphere. Alfvén reasoned that within the Sun’s magnetized plasma, any large movement of charged particles would perturb the magnetic field, creating waves that could carry enormous amounts of energy across vast distances. (from the surface of the Sun to its atmosphere). Heat travels along what is known as a flux tube from the sun before bursting into the corona, creating its high temperature. Measure the temperature of the Sun with an imaging spectrometer These magnetic plasma waves are now known as Alfvén waves, and the explanation for the heating of the circle led to Alfvén being awarded the 1970 Nobel Prize in Physics. The Interferometric Bidimetric Urban Spectrometer (IBIS) for imaging spectroscopy, installed at the Dunn Solar Telescope in the US state of New Mexico. This instrument has allowed researchers to make more detailed observations and measurements of the Sun. Combined with good observational conditions, advanced computer simulations, and the efforts of an international team of scientists from seven research institutions, they used IBIS to confirm the existence of waves for the first time. Alfvén in flux tubes from the sun. The researchers also expect more solar discoveries soon, thanks to new, groundbreaking missions and tools. The European Space Agency’s Solar Orbiter satellite is currently in orbit around the Sun, providing images and making measurements of the star’s unexplored polar regions. The launch of the new high-performance Solar telescope is also expected to enhance our observation of the Sun from Earth.

Lightning can produce from 2 – 16% of the amount of hydroxyl. The hydroxyl radical is important in the atmosphere because it triggers chemical reactions and breaks down air pollutant molecules like methane. Decomposition of atmospheric pollutants Lightning may play a bigger role than we thought in a fundamental process that helps clean our air of pollutants, according to the results of a new study. Lightning strikes during storms produce large amounts of molecules called oxidizing radicals, which can break down gases such as carbon monoxide and methane in the atmosphere. These are atmospheric pollutants that can contribute to global warming and damage to the ozone layer. Carbon monoxide and methane enter the atmosphere from both natural and industrial sources. Methane is produced by the decomposition of plants, but is also released by oil and gas development and agriculture. Carbon monoxide and other polluting hydrocarbons can be generated by industries and wildfires. However, natural processes in the atmosphere, driven mainly by sunlight, have produced molecules called radicals, the most important of which are hydroxyls. These molecules are very chemically active (meaning that they are more likely to react with other molecules) and can react with pollutants to form new compounds that are harmless or potentially harmful. can be easily attached to water and released into the air. New research led by Pennsylvania State University meteorology professor William Brune has found that lightning produces far more hydroxyl molecules than previously known. His work shows that more than 10% of the supply of these scavenging radicals in the atmosphere can be generated by lightning storms. Use an airplane to fly through the storm Lightning’s ability to clean the atmosphere. The work involved flying NASA’s DC-8 research plane through deep convection thunderstorms to collect data. According to Professor Brune, this is not as dangerous as one might think. “Very interesting indeed. The pilots are phenomenal. They know what they’re doing. They know how to keep planes safe. But it’s really interesting because you can see deep convection and this is very close and personal,” said Prof. Brune. “We did this study in 2012, flying over central China. America and try to see what’s going into the storm chemically, what’s going to come up above. And to our surprise, we saw a very large amount of OHs (hydroxyl molecules). At first, we did not believe the signals received. They are huge, a thousand times larger than the largest mass we have ever seen.” The data collected from the aircraft was compared with data collected from radio receivers on the ground that track lightning flashes in the clouds. Both data sets confirmed the production of high amounts of hydroxyl radicals due to lightning strikes. Hydroxyl radicals are produced when the energy of lightning strikes breaks down water vapor in the atmosphere. “You can think of it like water that has removed the hydrogen atom and then wants to get that hydrogen back. So it becomes very active as it goes and tries to get the hydrogen back,” he said. That means the hydroxyl radical is very reactive with methane or carbon monoxide molecules. Climate change models need to be updated According to the scientists, about 1,800 lightning storms circulate around the planet, which leads the researchers to estimate that this phenomenon produces between 2% and 16% of the amount of hydroxyl present in the atmosphere.

A single lightning bolt can release up to a billion volts, tens of thousands of amps, travel at more than 434,000 km/h and in just a few millionths of a second reach 30,000 degrees Celsius – hotter than the surface of the Sun. Professor Brune admits that it is difficult to gauge the effectiveness of this process on a global scale. The results of this study were based on a limited number of flights over a small portion of the United States. There is still a lot of information that needs to be gathered to create a global picture. However, Professor Brune believes that the hydroxyl generated by lightning has a significant worldwide impact. Previous models suggested that lightning was not a significant contributor to the clean-up of the atmosphere. “Our best estimate right now is from 2%, which is quite important, to more than 10%, which is very important, for the total cleanup of the atmosphere. These estimates may change as our planet warms. Some climate change models show an increase in thunderstorm activity, which means more hydroxyl production and more cleaning of the atmosphere in the future. Other climate models suggest that there may not be much lightning, but lightning strikes will be more intense and may also alter the numbers. In any case, future models of climate change and global pollution will have to take into account this new information about the cleaning of the atmosphere, according to Professor Brune. Existing models may need updating.

Climate change is one of the main causes of extinctions worldwide. 5 mass extinctions Dinosaurs became extinct in the Jurassic, more than 200 million years ago. * Ordovician-Silurian Extinction: About 440 million years ago The first mass extinction on Earth occurred at a time when organisms such as corals and shellfish filled the world’s shallow waters but had yet to venture to land. Life itself has begun to spread and diversify, first appearing around 3.7 billion years ago. But about 440 million years ago, a climate change caused sea temperatures to shift, and much of the life in the ocean died out. At the end of the Ordovician, mass glaciations covered the southern supercontinent, Gondwana. According to a study published in the journal Oceanology, glaciation on this scale has stripped away high proportions of the world’s water and dramatically lowered global sea levels, depriving the world of vital habitats. species, destroying the food chain and reducing fertility, according to a study published in the journal Oceanology. However, not all scientists agree with this. According to National Geographic, other theories suggest that the toxic metal may have dissolved into seawater during periods of oxygen depletion, wiping out marine life. Other scientists suggest that a gamma-ray burst from a supernova ripped through a giant hole in the ozone layer, allowing deadly ultraviolet radiation to kill life below. According to APS News, there is a Another theory is that volcanoes are the cause. * Late Devonian Extinction: Over 365 million years ago The Devonian period witnessed the rise and fall of many prehistoric marine species. Although by this time animals had already begun to evolve on land, most of life was swimming through the oceans. Until vascular plants, such as trees and flowers, have the potential to cause a second mass extinction. According to the BBC, as plants develop roots, they inadvertently transform the land they inhabit, turning rocks and rubble into soil. This nutrient-rich soil then runs into the world’s oceans, causing algae to bloom on a massive scale. These blooms essentially created giant “dead zones,” areas where algae take oxygen from the water, suffocating marine life and wreaking havoc on the marine food chain. Species that could not adapt to reduced oxygen levels and lack of food died. However, this theory is still being debated, and some scientists believe that volcanic eruptions are responsible for the drop in oxygen levels in the ocean, according to a study in the journal Geology. A species of sea monster that has been wiped out from the world’s oceans is the 10 m long armored fish called Dunkleosteus . * Permian-Triassic extinction: ~253 million years ago This extinction event is the largest event that has ever occurred on Earth. It wiped out about 90% of all species on the planet and wiped out the reptiles, insects and amphibians that roamed the land. What caused this catastrophic event was a period of rampant volcanism. According to the Sam Noble Museum in Oklahoma, in the ocean, rising levels of carbon dioxide dissolve into the water, poisoning marine organisms and depriving them of their oxygen-rich water. Rising sea temperatures also reduce oxygen levels in the water. Corals are one of the hardest hit groups of marine life – it takes 14 million years for oceanic reefs to rebuild as they once were. * Triassic-Jurassic Extinction: About 201 million years ago The Triassic period was the time when dinosaurs began to inhabit the world. Unfortunately, many volcanoes were also erupting at that time. While it’s still not clear exactly why this fourth mass extinction occurred, scientists suggest that massive volcanic activity occurred in an area of ​​the world now covered by the Atlantic Ocean. cover . Similar to the Permian extinction, volcanoes released huge amounts of carbon dioxide, causing climate change and devastating life on Earth. Global temperatures rise, ice melt, sea levels rise and acidification. As a result, many marine and terrestrial species became extinct; These include large prehistoric crocodiles and several species of flying pterosaurs. All dinosaurs were killed in the fifth mass extinction. Scientists estimate that many species that can fly, burrow or dive into the depths of the ocean survive. For instance, the only true descendants of dinosaurs living today are modern-day birds – more than 10,000 species are thought to have descended from survivors. Is the 6th going? According to The Conversation, scientists define a mass extinction when about three-quarters of species die out in a short geological time, i.e. less than 2.8 million years. Currently, humans are in the early stages of the latest mass extinction, which is happening much faster than any other species. According to the International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN), since 1970, populations of vertebrate species have decreased by an average of 68% and now more than 35,000 species are considered threatened with extinction. During the 20th century, as many as 543 species of terrestrial vertebrates became extinct, according to a research paper in the journal PNAS. Since the beginning of the industrial revolution in 1760, humans have been a major factor in Earth’s current environmental crisis. From greenhouse gas emissions and ozone depletion to deforestation, plastic piling and the illegal animal trade, humans have been proactively depriving the world of some species and threatening many others. Ecotourism is an industry that drives conservation efforts around the world, but it is on the verge of collapse since global travel restrictions were introduced. Without tourist income, conservationists are having a hard time protecting vulnerable species from poaching, while the COVID-19 pandemic is intensifying. The New York Times reported. Rhinos in Botswana, feral cats in South America and tigers in India have all been targeted in the past year. In the context of the current pandemic, the wildlife market has become the focus of attention for not only being environmentally irresponsible but also potentially endangering human health through infectious diseases. from animals to humans – such as the COVID-19 pandemic. These markets, which trade in live exotic animals or products derived from them, are found all over the world. For example, bear farms in Asia trap 20,000 Asian black bears for bile, leading to a decline in wild populations. Another potential solution to combat extinction could be the cloning of species. In February 2021, scientists revealed they had successfully cloned a black-footed ferret from an animal that died more than 30 years ago. Native to North America, these small mammals were thought to be extinct until a small colony was found in the early 1980s, where they were engaged in breeding and reintroduction programs. across America. The cloning process is similar to that of Dolly the sheep in the early 1990s.

Illustration. Sunlight is the source of ultraviolet rays (also known as ultraviolet rays – UV rays). This type of radiation is the cause of a lot of damage to the skin. The level of damage from UV rays depends on the intensity of the light, the length of exposure to the light, and whether the skin is protected. Without protection from the sun’s rays, just a few minutes of exposure a day over time will produce noticeable changes to the skin. Freckles, age spots, blood veins, rough skin, wrinkles, loss of collagen, keratinization are all caused by the sun and one thing is for sure, the sun can cause skin cancer. The basic mechanism of action is as follows: When sunlight affects areas of the skin, immediately, skin cells will react by increasing the production of Melanin – the pigment that determines skin color. The more melanin, the darker the skin. There are 3 types of ultraviolet rays: UVA, UVB and UVC. UVC rays have the highest carcinogenic potential, but are absorbed and reflected by the ozone layer, so they do not reach the ground. However, there are currently many places where the ozone layer is punctured or thinned, the risk from UVC is very great. 99% of sunscreens have no UVC protection. In the scope of this article we only talk about UVA and UVB. Sunscreen for oily skin Oily skin that suffers from a thick layer of cream on the face will be extremely sticky and uncomfortable, not to mention if the cream is inherently whiter than the skin, when it is mixed with oil and then unevenly colored, it is a disaster. You should choose sunscreens that contain the words “No Sebum” (non-greasy) or “Oil Free” (oil free) on the package, or sunscreens that are gel, water or spray to avoid causing irritation. skin. If you do not have acne problems or too sensitive skin, then chemical sunscreen with light texture and fast absorption is the right choice. Also, another note: if you want to choose sunscreen when swimming, it’s best to choose those that say “Water Resistant” or “Water Proof” on the package, with an SPF of 50 to 70. and index PA+++. These can last up to about 40 minutes to 1 hour and then you need to reapply for the best sun protection. Sensitive skin Sensitive skin is easily irritated in the sun and many chemical ingredients are in sunscreen, so say no to chemical sunscreens (sunscreen) but choose a more benign physical sunscreen (sunblock). with skin. Choose a product with a thin, light texture or a sunscreen that clearly states sensitive skin. Normal skin This is the most indulgent of all skin types, so you can use almost any sunscreen. However, in the summer, it is still advisable to give preference to light, cool products that do not cause mystery to the skin. Sunscreen for dry skin For dry skin, choose sunscreen products that contain moisturizers, to provide the necessary moisture, improve dryness and create a protective film to protect the skin from dehydration. In addition, sunscreens for dry skin should also incorporate a waterproof feature, ingredients containing antioxidants to enhance skin protection from the bad effects of ultraviolet rays and prevent skin irritation.

As noted by Fox News, NASA’s rocket launch window opened at 20:04 and the rocket launched at 20:36 on the same day. About 10 minutes after launch, the Black Brant XII rocket ejected barium vapor at an altitude of about 350-400km above the Atlantic Ocean, just north of Bermuda and about 870-900km from Wallops. The barium vapor from the NASA rocket is not harmful to the environment and has formed two blue-violet clouds that can be seen across the East Coast for about 30 seconds. However, clouds prevented the launch from being viewed with the naked eye. “This is the last date NASA intends to authorize a rocket launch from Wallops. The vocal rocket was originally scheduled to launch on May 8 but has been postponed several times a week,” Fox News wrote and reported. For further information, the Black Brant XII rocket launched during NASA’s KiNet-X mission – designed to study how energy and momentum is transported between different regions of space with a magnetic connection. The Black Brant XII missile is a 4-stage rocket. Peter Delamere, KiNET-X principal investigator from the University of Alaska Fairbanks said: “The aurorae – also known as the north pole or pole light, is formed when particles in the ‘near universe’ of the Earth’s ‘near space’. Earth interacts with the atmosphere Electrons in Earth’s space environment and in the solar wind are relatively low in energy, however, the aurora is produced by very high energy electrons. Vapors emitted from the rocket’s payload will generate magnetic interference and potentially energized electrons.KiNET-X consists of a single rocket launch carrying seven separable payloads – equipment primary diagnostic device, along with four small sideloads and clouds of barium vapor set to release from two additional, larger payloads”. Beautiful performance Analyzing further, meteorologist Katie McGraw told News 5 that when the launch happened, people in Northeast Ohio could see it thanks to clear skies. NASA called the May 16 launch of the Black Brant XII rocket a “beautiful display” and couldn’t have written a better story. Katie McGraw further revealed that the Black Brant XII rocket was used for the mission to explore energy transport in space. Black Brant is the result of research at the Canadian Arms Research and Development Facility (CARDE) in the 1950s into the nature of the upper atmosphere as part of ongoing research into anti-missile systems. ballistic fire and long-range communications. The launch took place on May 16 after a week of waiting. In 1957, CARDE contracted with Bristol to produce a simple rocket fuselage, called the Propulsion Test Vehicle, for high-powered solid fuel studies. Albert Fia’s design is quite heavy, as it is designed to accommodate a wide range of engine burn times, propellant loads and launch angles well suited to its role as a test vehicle for development. ABM system. The first test flight took place just two years later. CARDE’s attention then turned to long-distance communications, and they found the propulsion test vehicle system useful as a locating missile. To better suit this role, Bristol modified the design to be lighter and more suitable for the Black Brant missile role. CARDE has launched several Black Brant rockets over the years with the original Black Brant I design able to carry a payload of 68 kg to an altitude of 150 km and fly for the first time in October 1960. The missile’s design emphasizes payload reliability and range. There are 12 versions of the Black Brant and the Black Brant XII is a four-stage sonic launcher manufactured in 1995. The missile was first launched from the Andoya rocket range off the northwest coast of Norway and caused an explosion also known as the fear of Black Brant. This incident has put Russia’s nuclear forces on high alert, fearing a high-altitude nuclear strike could blind Russia’s radar, and Russia’s Cheget “nuclear briefcase” has been put on high alert. sent to Russian President Boris Yeltsin, who must then decide whether to launch a retaliatory nuclear strike against the United States. This is the first and only known incident to date where any nuclear-weapon country has activated its nuclear briefcase and prepared for an attack. On September 19, 2009, a Black Brant XII rocket launched to study the clouds caused calls from eastern North America reporting “strange lights in the sky”. NASA reported that the light came from an artificial noctilucent cloud formed by the exhaust particles of the rocket’s fourth stage at an altitude of about 278 km.

NASA’s Parker Solar probe has picked up radio signals on Venus. This is the first direct measurement of Venus’s atmosphere in nearly 30 years, and it is quite different from Venus in the past. A study published May 3 confirms that Venus’ upper atmosphere undergoes puzzling changes during a solar cycle, the Sun’s 11-year cycle of activity. This marks the latest clue to why Venus and Earth are so different. Born from similar processes, Earth and Venus are twins (both rocky, similar in size and structure), but the development paths of these two planets have been different since then. born. Venus lacks a magnetic field, and its surface heats up to a temperature hot enough to melt lead, and the spacecraft only lasts a few hours there. Earth-like planets with life? Studying Venus helps scientists understand how the twins evolved and whether Earth-like planets have life. Video enhancement converts the data from Parker Solar’s FIELDS instrument into audio. FIELDS detected a natural, low-frequency radio emission as it passed through Venus’s atmosphere. This helps scientists calculate the density of the planet’s electrically charged upper atmosphere, known as the ionosphere. In just seven minutes when the Parker Solar Probe was closest to Venus – FIELDS detected a natural, low-frequency radio signal. Like Earth, Venus has a layer of electrically charged gas at the upper edge of its atmosphere, called the ionosphere. This sea of ​​charged gas or plasma naturally emits radio waves that can be detected by instruments such as FIELDS. When Collinson and his team identified the signal, they realized the Parker Solar Probe had passed through the upper atmosphere of Venus. The researchers used this radio emission to calculate the density of the ionosphere over which the Parker Solar probe flew. Researchers last obtained direct measurements of Venus’ ionosphere from the Pioneer Venus Orbiter in 1992. At that time, the Sun was near the maximum of the solar cycle. In the years that followed, data from ground-based telescopes showed that great changes were taking place as the Sun entered its quiescent phase, i.e. minimum. While much of the atmosphere remains the same, the ionosphere – at the top, where gases can escape into space – is much thinner during the sun’s minimum. Observations from the recent flight of the Parker Solar probe, which occurred six months after the sun’s last minimum, show that Venus’ ionosphere is much thinner than previous measurements made. during the solar maximum. “When multiple missions confirm the same results, it gives you a lot of fun,” said Robin Ramstad, study co-author and postdoctoral researcher at the US Space and Atmospheric Laboratory. believe that thinning is real.” Understanding why Venus’ ionosphere is so thin near the Sun’s minimum is part of unraveling how Venus reacts to the Sun. This will help researchers determine how Venus, once very Earth-like, became the toxic atmosphere world it is today. For example, the ionosphere of Venus is prone to leakage, which means the escape of energized gases into space. Collecting data on this and other changes in the ionosphere is key to understanding how Venus’s atmosphere has evolved over time. Venus researchers think that data collected from the Parker Solar probe will give them a new perspective on a mysterious planet like Venus, our twin sister to Earth.

Due to the presence of minerals and other resources on the Red Planet, in the future, Mars could be an abundant source. All in all, the initiatives in this direction are impressive, but as always, there are nuances attached to them. Traveling to Mars on 1,000 rockets and creating land for 1 million earthlings as Elon Musk suggests is an extremely expensive and technologically difficult task. It is not necessary to list all the problems that arise when massive scientific works are devoted to this, just to mention the main “knots”. First, There is no technology that allows the creation of spacecraft with the ability to send people into distant space without having to receive a lethal dose of cosmic radiation. This problem could be solved by wrapping lead plates, but would lead to a proportional increase in the mass of the ship and a decrease in its carrying capacity. New engines were needed, but they are now beyond production. Monday, Solar radiation will remain a problem on the Martian surface. The Red Planet, unlike Earth, does not have a magnetic field that protects us from ionizing radiation. Astronauts will not have to walk on red sand dunes like in the movie “Total Recall”, but have to hide in bases hidden deep below the surface. Tuesday, Mars on Mars is cold and has practically no atmosphere, but the radiation background is 2.5 times higher than what astronauts on the ISS can tolerate. It is impossible to live in such conditions without a special space suit. There are also many other problems, but it is clear that expanding living space is an extremely important task for all of humanity, requiring accumulation and huge investments in technology. For this reason, scientists are seriously skeptical of Elon Musk’s initiative, especially when he proposes to carry out thermonuclear bombardments at both poles of the Red Planet. This will lead to higher temperatures, melting glaciers, the formation of liquid water and the release of greenhouse gases, which will create the atmosphere on Mars. After that, the settlers could walk on the surface without the spacesuit. But there is another way of looking at this “terrain” approach. Mathematician Robert Walker calculates that in order to carry out the first part of the plan, which would require at least 1 million nuclear bombs with a capacity of 100 megatons, they would have to be sent to Mars 3,500 a day for seven weeks to achieve. desired results. There are no such large numbers of nuclear weapons on Earth and the lack of means to deliver them to another planet. This is the first thing. Carbon dioxide reserves on Mars would not be enough to create a suitable atmosphere, even if the first problem were solved. Since the Red Planet has no magnetic field, solar radiation will gradually “suck” in the already formed magnetic field. This is the second thing. And finally, for some reason, Elon Musk doesn’t take into account that after so many nuclear explosions, the surface of the planet will be radioactive for a long time, you can’t walk there with a mask oxygen and plant trees. “Nuke Mars” is just a cover for the US to send nuclear weapons into space? In general, Elon Musk’s initiative is a nonsense and he himself cannot help but understand this. But why is this smart man promoting it? The head of Roscosmos – Mr. Dmitry Rogozin tried to answer the question: Anyone who calls for the “terrain” of Mars or other planets is well aware that this is just an excuse for launching nuclear weapons into space, which, if useful, is just to “terrain”. our “Earth. But it’s true, you can’t just send nuclear warheads to Mars. First, they will need to be put into orbit and accumulate somewhere along with the means to send them in large batches. Where is that? Suppose that a circular orbit station, which the United States and its allies are building, will be adapted for this case, with China and Russia as targets. But will the nuclear bomb then make its way to the Red Planet? It’s long been no secret that Elon Musk is working closely with the Pentagon on the space program and satellites. So why not try with the best cause, Mars exploration, to advocate for the idea of ​​​​putting a US nuclear arsenal in space, Mr. Rogozin concluded.

The idea of ​​​​conquering Mars has been a dream of mankind for many years, this could be the first step towards realizing the dream of many science fiction scientists that is to explore outer space. Sending humans to another planet, even within the solar system, has the effect of reducing the risk of a global catastrophe that could destroy life, such as a large asteroid impact or nuclear war. Even in the future, the Red Planet could be an abundant source of resources. Obviously the ambition to travel to Mars is impressive, but there are many doubts and obstacles attached. Tech billionaire Elon Musk put forward the idea of ​​humans traveling to Mars on 1,000 rockets and creating land for 1 million inhabitants, this is clearly an extremely expensive and technologically difficult task. major barriers have been listed. First, Earth science has not yet been able to create spacecraft with the ability to send humans into distant space that is “immune” to deadly cosmic radiation. The solution to this problem could be to wrap lead plates, but that would increase the weight of the ship and reduce its carrying capacity. Engines for spaceships are now well beyond construction. Second, solar radiation is a big problem, the Red Planet is different from Earth in that it doesn’t have a magnetic field protecting it from ionizing radiation. Astronauts will have to hide in bases hidden deep below the surface, not be able to walk freely on the surface. Third, Mars is cold and has no atmosphere, but the radiation background is 2.5 times higher than that of astronauts on the International Space Station ISS. It is impossible to live in such conditions without a special space suit. There are many other problems as well, but it is clear that expanding space into outer space requires accumulation and huge investments in technology. Before this fact, scientists expressed doubts about Elon Musk’s initiative, when he proposed to carry out bombardments with thermonuclear warheads at both poles of the Red Planet. A “fusion attack” would cause glaciers to melt, forming liquid water and releasing greenhouse gases, which help create the atmosphere on Mars. Then the “reclaimers” could walk around without a spacesuit. But mathematician Robert Walker calculates that to carry out the first part of the plan requires at least 1 million nuclear bombs with an explosive yield of 100 Megatons, must be assembled on Mars 3,500 a day for 7 weeks to achieve desired results. There are no such large numbers of nuclear weapons on Earth, and the lack of means to deliver them to another planet, is the first hurdle. CO2 reserves on Mars would not be enough to create a suitable atmosphere, even if the first problem were solved. Since the Red Planet does not have a magnetic field, solar radiation will gradually “suck” the gas that has already formed, which is the second barrier. Finally, Elon Musk does not take into account that after many nuclear explosions, the surface of the planet will be radioactive for a long time, people cannot walk with oxygen masks and plant trees. Elon Musk’s initiative is clearly impractical and perhaps the billionaire himself understands this, but what is his meaning. The head of Russia’s state space corporation Roscosmos – Mr. Dmitry Rogozin made a remarkable remark. “Anyone calling for the reclamation of Mars or other planets is well aware that this is just an excuse for launching nuclear weapons into space for military purposes on Earth.” “It’s true, you can’t just put nuclear warheads on Mars. They need to first be put into orbit and assembled somewhere with the means to send them in large batches.” “Assuming an orbital station being built by the US and its allies will be tailored to target China and Russia. Will nuclear warheads reach the Red Planet then? “It is no secret that Elon Musk is working closely with the Pentagon on the space and satellite program. So why not experiment with the best cause of Mars exploration, to advocate for the idea of ​​​​putting US nuclear weapons in space,” concluded Mr. Rogozin.

1.8g of SiC requires about 177 kW / h of energy. Researchers have proposed a new way of turning plants into a valuable industrial material called silicon carbide (SiC). In a new study, scientists at the Salk Institute (USA) have converted tobacco and corn husks into SiC. These findings are critical to help researchers evaluate and quantify carbon uptake strategies. “The study gives a very careful calculation of how this valuable substance is made and how many carbon atoms are removed from the atmosphere,” said study co-author Professor Joseph Noel of the Salk Institute. SiC is also known as carborundum. This is a super hard material used in ceramics, sandpaper, semiconductors, and LEDs. Salk’s team used a previously reported method to convert plant materials into SiC in three stages. First, the researchers planted tobacco plants from seeds, which were selected for the short growing season. They then pulverized the harvested plants and treated it with a number of chemicals, including silicon-containing compounds. In the final stage, the starch plants are turned into rocks to give SiC. This process involves heating the material to 1,600 degrees Celsius. “We have demonstrated that carbon can be isolated from agricultural residues such as corn husks,” said study author Suzanne Thomas. Thereby, a green material is created ”. Through elemental analysis of plant meal, the authors measured a 50,000-fold increase in carbon sequestration from seed to laboratory plants. This is a demonstration of the effectiveness of plants in reducing atmospheric carbon. When heated to high temperatures to freeze, the plant material loses some of its carbon as a variety of decomposition products. The researchers calculated that the generation of 1.8 g of SiC requires about 177 kW / h of energy. Most of the energy (70%) is used at the freezing step. The current SiC manufacturing process has comparable energy costs, the authors note. Therefore, the team thinks that new technologies produced by renewable energy companies could reduce energy costs. In the future, the team expressed hope to explore this process in a variety of plants, especially species such as horsetail or bamboo. These are species that contain large amounts of natural silicon.

According to Pentagon French speaker Mike Howard, fragments of the 5B Truong Chinh missile, with a length of more than 30 meters and a weight of 22 tons, is expected to fall back into the atmosphere “around May 9”, at the same time. added that the US Space Command is closely monitoring the missile’s trajectory. Using data from the US military, Space Track predicts fragments of the missile will fall between 1:44 a.m. and 4 a.m. on May 9 (international time). Space Track also noted that because it was impossible to determine the correct time of the fall, locating the falling point of the debris is very difficult, but confirmed that it will continuously update the missile wreck’s location through its website. Chinese Truong Chinh 5B missile. Photo: CNN “Risk is possible, there will be some damage but quite small, not insignificant, but the ability to affect people is extremely small” – astrophysicist Jonathan McDowell of the University Harvard (USA), stated. The European Space Monitoring and Monitoring Agency (EU SST) has predicted a “risk zone” includes “any part of the Earth’s surface, including almost all of the Americas, Africa and Australia. , parts in southern Asia (Japan) and Europe such as Spain, Portugal, Italy and Greece “. The extent of the debris’s influence is such a result of the rocket debris’s dizzying rate, even small effects during the fall can dramatically change its trajectory. . “We expect the debris to reappear sometime between May 8 and May 10,” said McDowell. However, as explained by Harvard astrophysicist, the oceans are still the safest place to bet for debris to land, as seas occupy 70% of the Earth’s surface area. China successfully launched the space station’s core module into space with the Truong Chinh 5B rocket, on April 29. Photo: REUTERS Earlier, on May 7, China’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs confirmed that most of the debris from the missile would burn when it falls to Earth and is less likely to cause any harm, CNN said. Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesman Uong Van Ban said Beijing is very focused on bringing the rocket’s upper deck back into the atmosphere: “As far as I know, this missile uses a special design. Much of the rocket will be burned and destroyed in the return to atmosphere “. The Beijing government also criticized that the news that the missile unit had fallen out of control and could cause harm was exaggeration by the West. Chinese experts say the situation is nothing to worry about. Fragment of China’s Truong Chinh 5B missile is expected to hit Earth on May 9. Photo: CNN Previously, on April 29, China successfully launched the space station’s core module called Thien Hoa into space with the Truong Chinh 5B boosters from the Van Xuong Spacecraft Launch Center in Hainan Province. This is one of the steps for the country to complete its mission of setting up its own space station, a key effort in China’s plan to master space, probe the Moon, and even Mars. But instead of falling to a predetermined place in the sea like the rockets before, the central stage of the Truong Chinh 5B boosters began to rotate around the globe in a state of out-of-control, according to CNN. Dropping debris from Chinese missile launches to Earth is not uncommon in China. In May 2020, the core of the first Truong Chinh 5B rocket crashed on Ivory Coast, damaging a number of buildings, luckily causing no injuries.

However, an incident later occurred when the core of a missile weighing up to 20 tons lost control and fell back to the ground at an extremely high speed. According to forecasts by both the US space agency (NASA) and the European Space Agency (ESA) at that time, the missile is likely to fall on May 8-10 – and currently the latest forecasts show. It will fall on May 9. Missile Truong Chinh 5B. Description: Thanh Luan Its location is a densely populated place or falls into the sea or uninhabited area is still a big question mark, so this event attracts the attention of most of the world’s major powers. . But many experts advise people in the countries concerned that “should not be too worried”. Specifically, sharing his opinion with CGTN channel on May 8, according to expert Zhang Xiaotian working at the School of Astronaut, Beihang University, told CGTN: “ As for the missile’s return to the ground, we need it to fall into a predetermined safe zone and there are many measures to achieve this goal such as choosing the launch location, controlling the brake. degrees at different stages “. China’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs spokesman Uong Van Ban also said that the ability of fragments or missile cores to fall to the ground is extremely low because the missile is designed with special technology. . The Hindustantimes Indian newspaper quoted the Paris-PSL Observatory astronomer Florent Delefie as saying: “ The chance of the debris falling in an inhabited area is very low, with the probability of 1 in 1 million “. Jonathan McDowell, an astrophysicist at the Smithsonian Center for Astrophysics, Harvard, in an interview on Space.com even said that the probability of a personal danger being hit by a piece of paper is just 1 in many billions of possibilities. “The chance of someone getting hurt is probably 1% and the chance of you getting hurt is 8 billion times smaller than that, so don’t worry about it.” Even so, McDowell also criticized China for its somewhat irresponsible actions: “Usually, after the missile completes its mission, the engine will be reactivated and dropped into the ocean or inhabited place, so the damage is very little. However, China did not do that,” he said. they put rockets in orbit and then set them free. “ Theverge quoted Dan Oltrogge – founder of Space Safety Coalition as well as leading expert at Commercial Space Operations Center expressed optimism about the missile core will fall into the sea. He said: “Most of the Earth’s surface is covered with water (70%), so there is almost no danger, the chance of it falling into a residential area is not zero but there would be little to worry about if it does. fell into the ocean “. “The chance of anyone getting hit by debris is very low, extremely low”, he stressed . Have there been instances of missile debris hit causing significant injury? In fact, in more than six decades since humans put their first satellite into the air, there have been no cases of debris hitting people causing significant injuries, according to Stijn Lemmens, an expert at Mechanical European Space Agency. The likelihood of falling into the residential area of ​​the Truong Chinh 5B missile core is very low. Photo: Bulletin The China Space Agency, the main unit responsible for this incident, still keeps information related to the missile secret, so it is still possible to estimate the specific drop position of the missile core. a big question. Most recently, they just made an official announcement. This is not the first case of a Chinese space object losing control, before in 2018, a space station named Thien Cung 1 weighing 8 tons also lost control and fell back to the ground. but no one was injured. Articles translated from sources: Space, CGTN, Hindustantimes, Theguardian

The scene of the launch of the Truong Chinh – 5B missile in Hainan on April 29 (Photo: Tan Hoa commune). According to the Hong Kong news site the East On May 9, China’s Office of Construction to put people into space on Sunday morning said that fragments of the end-propeller compartment of the Truong Chinh – 5B (CZ-5B) rocket launched by China from the Van Xuong launch site, Hainan will return to the atmosphere at 9:12 am on the same day (Hanoi time); the area in which it re-entered the atmosphere lies above 28.38 ° east longitude and 34.43 ° north latitude, in the Mediterranean sky. The European Union’s Center for Space Monitoring and Monitoring (EUSST) had previously predicted that the rest of the missile bay would return to the atmosphere at 2:32 a.m. GMT on Sunday (9:32 a.m. Internal on Sunday), with an error of adding or subtracting 139 minutes. According to EUSST, the probability of a missile fragment falling in densely populated areas is very low, but it can still happen uncertain due to the object’s uncontrolled. Thien Ha module of 100m3 capacity was launched by missile into space. American company Aerospace Corporation again stated that missile fragments will fall to the ground at 3:30 am UTC on Sunday (ie 10:30 am Hanoi time) with an error of plus or minus 4 o’clock. Actual drop times may vary. The Truong Chinh – 5B missile was launched into space by China on April 29 to bring the 100m3 Thien Hoa core module into orbit, this part will be the place for 3 astronauts to live and live on the Air Station. the Chinese Heavenly Palace. The launch of the core module is the first of the 11 missions required to complete the installation of a space station. The carrier was successfully put into orbit, but the rocket’s propulsion chamber lost control and fell back to Earth. According to the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of China, the fragment of the missile will catch fire when it enters the atmosphere, so the potential for harm is extremely low. The missile falls down (all brown parts and 2 support chambers) with the trajectory of the debris moving around Trac Dat. Black dot is the falling point predicted by Aerospace on May 8 (Image: UDN). However, there has been controversy surrounding the rocket’s falling back to Earth. The US Army Space Command said on May 4 that they “are closely monitoring and reporting to the public the location of the missile debris. It is currently impossible to determine where it fell to Earth. Asked during a press conference on May 6 whether the US shot down fragments of Chinese missiles, US Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin said: “We expect it to fall where it will not cause it. casualties; hope it will fall into the ocean or the like “and said the US” has no plans to shoot it down “. During a press conference at the White House on May 5, when asked: “If the Chinese missile fragments cause harm to the US, will the US claim compensation,” White House spokesman Jen Psaki said: “No. it’s time to discuss this. We are tracking its position through Space Command and hopefully not in the end. ” “The US pays attention to solving the problem of space junk caused by increased activities in space,” she emphasized. The US hopes to cooperate with the international community to promote responsible behavior in the space. Photo of debris caught fire while crossing Italy on the night of May 8 (Photo: virtualtelescope.eu). Meanwhile, the Chinese side accused the Western media of overstating the fact that their missiles “lost control” and could cause great damage. According to the Reuters , sheet Global Times China’s claim that reports of the missile “out of control” and can cause damage are just “Western hype”. The Chinese Ministry of Foreign Affairs believes that the probability of harm caused by this process is extremely low. Mr. Uong Van Ban, spokesperson for China’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs on May 7, when answering questions from reporters during a regular press conference, said that international practice allows rockets to enter the atmosphere to throw and destroy. He said: “As far as I know, this missile applies a special engineering design, most of the parts will be worn out and destroyed during the return, potentially harmful to cargo operations,” he said. zero and above ground is extremely low; The relevant authorities will promptly notify the outside situation ”. The Chinese rocket propulsion chamber fell down before (Image: weibo). The Chinese side is very interested in monitoring the reintegration of the missile debris atmosphere, but declined to answer questions about where it was expected to fall, said Uong Van Ban; instead, he advised reporters to “consult the relevant agencies”. However, the National Aerospace Bureau of China did not respond to relevant questions from reporters Bloomberg . Since the US Skylab space station was out of orbit and crashed into Western Australia in 1979, most space programs have tried to avoid sending large missiles into orbit, because in this case Their return to Earth will be difficult to predict. According to the news of The Guardi This uncontrolled China Changzheng-2B missile compartment is 30 meters long, 5 meters wide and weighs 21 tons, it could become one of the largest space debris falling to the ground. Photo of Truong Chinh – 5B rocket propulsion compartment falling on May 6 (Photo: virtualtelescope.eu) This missile compartment is currently freely acrobatic around Earth, is about to enter the lower atmosphere, and is expected to fall uncontrollably down to Earth. Its orbital tilt is 41.5 degrees, meaning that areas of the Earth in the range from the north like Chicago, New York, Rome, Beijing, Hanoi and south to New Zealand, Chile are all on the Road moves and may fall. Although scientists expect that most of the debris will be burned and destroyed as it enters the atmosphere, there are still some that will fall to different places on earth, these parts include a metal and glass numbers have not been burned. Some scientists believe that it is irresponsible for China to let the missile debris return to Earth uncontrollably. “They (China) are responsible,” said Paulo Lozano, director of the Space Thrust Laboratory at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT). They either did not provide enough information or did enough work during the design process to prevent the space object from returning uncontrollably back to Earth. I think that’s very important …. Hope they won’t fall on land, especially in public places, the consequences will be very bad. ” Lozano said that almost all missile launches in the US require a second stage. During this phase, the engine will restart to bring the missile back to earth in an area that does not have any. designated person. However, the Truong Chinh – 5B missile does not have this design. According to Jonathan Black, director of the Maritime and Aviation Systems Laboratory at Virginia Tech, the technology has been in use for the past ten years. Although the Truong Chinh – 2B missile was just launched in late April, its technology is still decades ago. Scientists speculate that the high cost may be the reason China is not adopting new technologies. The propellant compartment of the Chinese missile fell to Guangxi province before (Image: weibo). Harvard astrophysicist Jonathan McDowell criticizes China for being negligent in this regard, not letting objects heavier than 10 tons fall to Earth from space. He said potentially dangerous debris may not be completely burned when returned to the atmosphere at supersonic speeds, but the probability of falling into the sea is higher because 70% of the earth’s surface is covered by Ocean. However, Mr. McDowell told Reuters that it was still possible that missile debris could fall on the ground; can even fall in densely populated areas, like fragments of another Truong Chinh-5B rocket that crashed on Côte d’Ivoire (Ivory Coast) in May 2020, destroying many buildings, But luck did not cause any casualties. Follow the latest information from the page the East at 11:33 a.m.: The China Space Construction Office announced: fragments of the last compartment of the missile carrying Truong Chinh -5B returned to the atmosphere at 10:24 am. The fall zone was located at 72.47 ° east longitude and 2.65 ° north latitude over the Indian Ocean near the Maldives, most of the equipment was burned down during the reintegration of the atmosphere.

People in Brazil are examining the debris believed to have belonged to a European spacecraft in 2014. Photo: Getty. Sea of ​​Japan (also known as East Sea) The phenomenon of debris falling from space falling to the ground and causing damage was first recorded in 1969. That year, Japanese diplomats informed the United Nations of an unknown object from the falling space. Down and collide with Japanese cargo ships moving off Siberia (Russia). The collision caused serious injuries to 5 crew members. Shortly after, Soviet ships appeared at that time looking for debris. Japanese officials said the debris was identified by experts as part of the Soviet spacecraft. However, this information was initially kept private by Tokyo because it did not want to create conflicts with Moscow, according to the report AP . State of the Northwest Territories, Canada The danger of an object from space became apparent in 1978, when Cosmos 954, a satellite powered by the atomic energy of the Soviet Union, fell to Earth. The incident caused radioactive debris to spread throughout the Northwest Territories, Alberta, and Canada’s Saskatchewan province. After the incident, the Canadian government organized a large-scale “Morning Light Campaign” to search for tiny pieces of radioactive material falling on the arctic tundra. The cost for this campaign is nearly 14 million CAD (equivalent to 11.5 million USD). A fragment of satellite Cosmos 954. Photo: United States Department of Energy. Canada demanded that the Soviet Union compensate at the time for CAD 6 million ($ 5 million), but Moscow ended up paying only half of that amount. State of West Australia, Australia In 1979, Skylab – the first space station of the US Aerospace Agency (NASA) – crumbled while returning to Earth’s atmosphere. The incident caused many debris to fall throughout the farm town of Esperance in West Australia, Australia. The Skylab space station was photographed by the last crewman before falling apart on July 11, 1979. Photo: NASA. “It’s the best fireworks display you’ll ever see,” described Brendan Freeman, a retired farmer. ABC . The debris did not cause great damage, but for fun, the town authorities Esperance wrote a $ 400 fine letter to NASA for littering. NASA did not pay the fines, possibly out of fear of setting a negative precedent. By 2009, a DJ in the city of Barstow, California (USA) called to raise funds and bring fines to pay the town of Esperance. Lakeport, California, USA An early weekend in 1987, a retired aircraft mechanic living in a town near Mendocino National Forest, in northern California, heard gun-like noises outside the bedroom window. After searching, he discovered a scorched metal piece longer than 2 meters in the alley next to the house. Analysts at the US Air Force determined this object was most likely a piece of debris falling from a Soviet missile. This missile has previously been seen flying across the sky while being burned and dropped to Earth. “It’s interesting because things like that don’t happen around here very often,” said Maggie Pickle, the mechanic’s neighbor. AP . Tulsa, Oklahoma, USA Lottie Williams held up a piece of debris that fell on her shoulder from a US Delta II rocket in 1997. Photo: Tulsa World. One morning in 1997, Lottie Williams was walking with friends in Tulsa city park when he saw something like a comet across the sky. The object fell on Mrs. Williams’ shoulder, but the force of the impact was very light, almost insensitive. The object identified by the scientists was most likely a piece of the US Delta II rocket. Fragments are kept by Mrs. Williams as a souvenir. “I must be very lucky for the debris to be so light. It was one of the strangest things that ever happened to me, ”Mrs. Williams told NPR in the interview many years later. Eastern region of Texas and Louisiana, USA In 2003, the American space shuttle Columbia collapsed while returning to the atmosphere, killing seven astronauts on board. Where the wreckage of the space shuttle hit the ground, temporary memorials were built for the crew. Rural residents along the Texas-Louisiana border reported seeing debris from the ship fell into a water storage tank or through the roof of a dental office. Someone even tried to sell a piece of fragment on an eBay e-commerce site for $ 10,000. Finally, 84,000 pieces of debris from the ship in distress were collected after extensive searches in swamps, forests, and grasslands. These debris were used to rebuild the ship and identify the cause of the disaster. Ivory Coast In May 2020, another Chinese 5B Truong Chinh missile also crashed on Earth. The missile was initially thought to have crashed into the Pacific Ocean, but some people reported hearing ultrasonic explosions and seeing metal debris falling from the sky. This shows that some parts of the Truong Chinh 5B missile fell in the village of Mahounou, on the Ivory Coast. China’s Truong Chinh 5B missile launch in late April in Hainan province. Photo: Getty. However, there were no reports of human casualties following the incident. The discovery of tube fragments longer than 12 m also seems to help this area get more attention. Grant County, Washington State, USA The most recent cosmic waste incident happened just over a month ago, when a private aerospace company SpaceX rocket exploded over the Pacific Northwest. The explosion created a “light show,” which caused some at first to mistake it for a meteor shower, according to the report The Verge . A piece of equipment from the missile crashed on a farm in Washington state, leaving a mark more than 12 cm deep on the ground, The Verge reporting. A similar object was also discovered by fishermen off the coast of Oregon a few days later, but authorities have not confirmed whether this is debris from the SpaceX missile or not.

In what form could life on earth end in the end? Photo: Astronomy Some scientists point out that the earliest life on Earth was born about 4 billion years ago. At that time, the Earth was continuously bombarded by space meteors, but life continued strongly. Earth’s history has seen many catastrophes, and each one is like the end of the world. Supernova explosions, asteroid collisions, large-scale volcanic eruptions, sudden climate changes … these events have claimed countless lives. During a number of mass extinction events, most of the species at that time had been wiped out. In the end, however, life still goes on. There will always be new species on Earth, and a new cycle will begin again. Although human life may be unimaginably fragile, turning the entire Earth into a barren land is not so easy. Here are some events that have the potential to wip out all life on Earth (very low probability and not happening in the near future). The impact of asteroids When an asteroid hits Earth, it releases incredible energy. 66 million years ago, an asteroid the size of a city crashed into the Gulf of Mexico and led to the extinction of the dinosaurs. At that time, all other creatures on Earth were almost wiped out. Although human ancestors were not born at that time, it may be the most important event in human history. Without the asteroid impact, dinosaurs could always be the lord of Earth, and other mammals could only exist in their shadow. According to geological records assessment, the frequency of Earth being collided by large asteroids is about 100 million years. However, smaller asteroid effects occur more often. There is even evidence that some people have died from the effects of asteroids over the past few thousand years. In 1888, in Sulaymaniyah, now in Iraq, a meteor strike killed one person and injured another. This is the earliest recorded asteroid accident. But what is the probability that Earth will be hit by a large asteroid? A 2017 study published in Nature has shown that to cause this asteroid must be large enough. Only the largest asteroids in the solar system (like Pallas and Vesta) can do this. Richard Binzel, a professor of planetary science at MIT, said even though an asteroid might one day come and destroy us, the likelihood is very low. Oxygen depletion Fossil of trilobite, one of the earliest arthropods on Earth. Photo: Shutterstock The chances of the latter being slightly higher than the previous. First, let’s go back to long history. Nearly 2.5 billion years ago, Earth went through a period known as the “Great Oxidation Event” – creating oxygen on a global scale. The increase in cyanobacteria causes a huge increase in the amount of oxygen in the atmosphere. Without this event, no oxygen-breathing animals would exist and the biological world would not have been diverse, from low-order monocytes to higher multicellular flora and fauna, including humans. However, about 450 million years ago, one of the most serious extinction events on the planet – the Ordovic -Silur mass extinction occurred. It could be due to the sudden drop in oxygen levels at that time, which lasted for millions of years. But why is this happening? During the Ordovic period, all the continents on Earth were connected to form the supercontinent Gondwana. At that time, most life on Earth existed in the ocean, but plants began to appear on land. At the end of the Ordovic period, the Earth’s climate suddenly changed, causing this supercontinent to be covered with glaciers. The sudden drop in global temperature alone is enough to cause the disappearance of many species. Then, when global oxygen levels plummeted, life on Earth experienced a second wave of extinction. Scientists can find evidence of this drastic change in sediment samples on the seabed. Some researchers believe that glaciers at that time caused a fundamental change in ocean stratification, and that the temperature and oxygen concentration of each layer of seawater differ. However, the exact cause of this significant reduction in oxygen is still being debated. Whatever the reason, more than 80% of the species on Earth disappeared during the Ordovic mass extinction. Such events happened in the past, will history repeat in the future? In fact, a recent study published in Nature Communications has shown that climate change reduces oxygen levels in the ocean, which can cause the extinction of some marine life. Gamma-ray bursts Gamma-ray bursts can originate in binary star systems. Photo: University of Warwick Gamma-ray bursts occur when a giant star dies, explodes like a supernova, and collapses into a black hole. It spits out stream of rays at the speed of light in the universe. Any planet in the path of this stream would lose its atmosphere immediately and be burned. When the gamma rays in the explosion hit the blue planet’s atmosphere, they will cause oxygen and free nitrogen atoms to collide, and some will recombine into N2O compounds, the destroyer. ozone layer. N2O is long-lived in the atmosphere, and they continue to destroy ozone until it falls to the ground through rainfall. If there was a gamma-ray explosion in the Milky Way, it could potentially cause the extinction of a large number of species on Earth. If the gamma-ray burst was aimed in the direction of the Earth, even if it lasted only 10 seconds, it would destroy at least half of the Earth’s ozone layer. Scientific research in recent decades has shown that even a small fraction of the ozone layer is destroyed enough to weaken Earth’s “natural protective layer” and cause serious problems. And if the ozone layer is depleted to a certain extent, the Earth’s food chain will be severely damaged, leading to the extinction of a large number of species. Death of the Sun. As the sun continues to age, more and more energy is released, which could eventually wipe out the oxygen in Earth’s atmosphere. Photo: Nasa A study published in the journal Nature Geoscience in March this year showed that regardless of whether or not a gamma-ray explosion occurs, in about a billion years, most life on Earth will die from lack of oxygen. A team of scientists working with NASA believes that this oxygen-rich atmosphere will not last forever. In a billion years, the activity of the Sun will cause the Earth’s oxygen levels to drop back to the levels they were before the “Great Oxidation Event”. The team describes the last moment before the Earth’s inability to support life as follows: “We find that the deoxygenation of the future is an inevitable consequence of increased heat radiation from the Sun. The exact timing of this process will be governed by the redox flow that changes between the geological mantle and the ocean-atmosphere system and the Earth’s crust. ” Conclusions are made after modeling and running simulation based on the algorithm hundreds of thousands of times. The start time and duration of this process will depend on a variety of factors, and can be as short as 10,000 years. But researchers point out that for Earth, in the end, this fate is inevitable. Fortunately, humanity still has 1 billion years left to find another way out.

Mars probe ship. Generates oxygen on other planets The Perseverance expedition ship of the US Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) has just made history. It successfully experimented with converting carbon dioxide gas from the Martian atmosphere into oxygen. This is the first time that oxygen production has been performed on another planet. The Mars experiment using local oxygen resources, called MOXIE, is a device the size of an automobile battery and is placed inside the Perseverance. Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) is the manufacturing unit. MOXIE is made of a heat-resistant material such as a nickel alloy. It is designed to withstand extreme temperatures of up to 800 degrees Celsius. The device is coated with a thin layer of gold to prevent heat and damage to the Perseverance vessel. On the first test run, MOXIE generated 5.4 grams of oxygen – enough for an astronaut to breathe easily for 10 minutes while still performing normal activities. Engineers will conduct additional tests and find ways to increase oxygen production. By design, MOXIE can generate 10 grams of oxygen per hour. NASA expects the development of experimental instruments not only to help generate oxygen for astronauts in the future, but also to help generate large amounts of oxygen to be used as a rocket launcher for the return journey without. must be transported from Earth. The Perseverance expedition landed on Mars on February 18 to perform a mission to search for signs of microbial life on the “Red Planet”. In the coming years, the Perseverance ship aims to collect 30 soil and rock samples to send back to Earth (estimated around 2030) for analysis. Dang Vu Tuan Son, Club of Astronomy and Astronomy of Vietnam, said that oxygen-rich atmosphere should not be seen as steel evidence for life on other planets. Nowadays, to look for signs of life, scientists often use biological structures as guides. Its biological form and life-forming compounds serve as indirect evidence for its presence. On Earth, the oxygen in our atmosphere is one of the most obvious biological characteristics that an alien astronomer can notice. It is only in our atmosphere in such large quantities because plants and bacteria photosynthesize it has been creating it for billions of years. Oxygen is not synonymous with life A new study published April 13 in the journal AGU Advances suggests that terrestrial planets around stars like the Sun can develop oxygen atmospheres without help. from life. This means that detecting oxygen on a planet does not mean that the planet is capable of life. This study uses a computer model that allows scientists to experiment and observe the evolution of a planet. In the first model test, the researchers attempted to accurately reconstruct our Earth. Then they changed the initial conditions to different from what was made up of Earth, and the results they got showed that there are many cases where the planets still contain oxygen but do not require any changes. living. In fact, they have found three main ways for a rocky planet to have an oxygen-rich atmosphere without the presence of life. The first scenario is an Earth-like liquid water planet with oceans 50 times (or more) larger than on Earth. All of that water puts great pressure on the planet’s crust, shutting down the geological activity. This prevents things like the weather and the melting of rocks being two factors that cause oxygen to disappear from the atmosphere. The second scenario is the opposite: A dry desert world with 30% less water than Earth and they will solidify with a “steam atmosphere” for about a million years. This provides a large amount of oxygen in the atmosphere, as sunlight breaks down the molecules of water and hydrogen released into space. And because the planet’s solid desert surface cannot remove any oxygen, it stays in the atmosphere. The last way for a lifeless planet to have an oxygen-rich atmosphere is if the original planet had a higher ratio of carbon dioxide to water than the early Earth. In this case, the planet undergoes a greenhouse similar to what happened on Venus and becomes too hot for oceans to form in the first place. It is also too hot for volatiles to exist in the planet’s mantle, where they will isolate oxygen through chemical reactions. Instead, these volatiles are in the atmosphere, where they can no longer remove oxygen. The planets could have better life than the Earth Researchers have identified more than 20 planets outside the Solar System that have better conditions for life than Earth. Some of these planets have orbits stars that are probably even better than the Sun. A study led by Dirk Schulze-Makuch at Washington State University published in the journal Astrobiology details the features of planets with superlative potential, including is composed of planets that are older, slightly larger and warmer, and possibly more water than Earth. Life can also easily develop on planets moving around slower-changing stars that have longer lifespans than the Sun. The top 24 candidates for habitable planets are all located more than 100 light-years away from us, but Schulze-Makuch says this rescue could help future observations to focus properly, such as the James Webb space telescope, NASA’s LUVOIR space observatory and ESA’s PLATO space telescope. Researchers have selected planetary systems that are likely to have terrestrial planets moving around the parent star in the region of the habitable zone (an area that allows water to exist as a liquid on the planet’s surface) from Kepler’s archival data on transiting exoplanets. Our sun has a relatively short lifespan, less than 10 billion years, because it takes nearly 4 billion years for complex life to form on Earth, so many stars are similar to the Sun (types of G stars). ) may run out of fuel before life can develop. Along with monitoring the types of G stars, the researchers are also observing K-stellar systems, which are colder, smaller, and fainter than the Sun. Type K stars have lifespans that can last from 20 to 70 billion years. That allows the planets moving around it to grow older and allow life to have more time to have life as complex as Earth does today. However, for the planets to stay alive, the planets could not be too much as they could end geothermal activity and no longer have a protective magnetic field. Earth is about 4.5 billion years old today, but researchers think that the most ideal time for life on a planet is between the ages of 5 billion and 8 billion.

Space Station Skylab was launched by the US Aerospace Agency (NASA) in 1973. The agency had planned Skylab to operate for at least 10 years, but that did not happen. The sun radiates more energy than expected, increasing Skylab’s pull back to Earth. Image: NASA . On the night of July 11, 1979, Skylab returned to Earth and exploded over the Indian Ocean, west of Australia. Debris from the 85-ton space station is scattered across fields and small towns. Although no one was injured, the town of Esperance (Australia) fined $ 400 to NASA for littering. However, this agency does not pay. Until 2009, a new radio station in California (USA) paid this fine. Photo: State Library of Western Australia. Not only Skylab, there have been many instances where objects from space fell uncontrollably down to Earth. November 10, 2013, satellite GOCE The European Space Agency (ESA) caught fire and plunged into the Atlantic due to running out of fuel a month ago. According to the Space , GOCE is used to map the Earth’s gravity. Previously, scientists were concerned that the 1-ton satellite could fall to the mainland. Image: Space . Atmospheric Research Satellites (UARS) was launched by NASA in September 1991 with space shuttle Discovery to analyze the Earth’s ozone layer. In December 2005, a satellite weighing 6.5 tons, worth $ 750 million, was stopped by NASA before it fell to Earth in September 2011. While most of the satellites were burned, the remaining 532 kg of UARS fell to Canada, Africa, parts of the Pacific, Atlantic and Indian oceans. Image: NASA . NASA launches satellites Pegasus 2 weighed 11.6 tons in 1965 to study asteroids orbiting the Earth. The data was sent back to NASA by Pegasus 2 for about 3 years, then kept on orbit for 11 years. On November 3, 1979, the satellite returned to Earth and then exploded, debris plunging down the middle of the Atlantic Ocean. Image: NASA . Operated for 9 years from 1971 to 1982, Salyut 7 is the last space station in the Salyut program of the Soviet Union. On February 7, 1991, the 22-ton space station lost control, crashing to Earth after a period of time out of orbit while still connected to the Cosmos 1686 spacecraft. Both burned and exploded in the sky. Argentina, some fragments found in Capitan Bermudez region, no human casualties have been reported. Image: Space Age . On February 1, 2003, space shuttle Columbia exploded in the sky above Texas (USA) when returning to Earth, killing 7 astronauts. Investigations revealed that 82 seconds after the 100-ton ship took off, an insulating foam fell onto the carbon fiber board, puncturing the hull and damaging the body temperature protection while it was in service. speed 28,968 km / h. Although no one on the ground was injured, the Columbia event marked the second deadliest disaster in NASA’s space shuttle program. Image: NASA . Cosmos 954 , the secret satellite of the Soviet Navy used to spy on US nuclear submarines, launched on September 18, 1977 lost control. On January 24, 1978, a 3.8-ton satellite crashed northwestern Canada, causing radioactive debris to scatter over a large area. The Government of Canada asked the Soviet Union to pay $ 6 million for the search and cleanup campaign, but this country only accepted to pay $ 3 million. Image: NASA . On July 27, 2016, a boosters Long March 7 (Truong Chinh 7) China’s free fall, exploding in the American western skies. The image of a missile-generated light trail in the sky is widely shared on the Internet. The Long March missile chain is part of China’s plan to build an outer space station. Image: Matt Holt . Space Station Tiangong 1 (Heavenly Palace 1) China exploded over the southern Pacific on April 1, 2018. The 8-ton space station was launched in 2011, receiving 2 crew from 2012-2013 before completing the mission. In March 2016, China lost contact with Tiangong 1, allowing the space station to fall freely due to the gravity of the Earth. Image: CMSA . SpaceX’s test missile explodes again when it lands on the launch pad SpaceX’s Starship SN9 rocket landed and exploded on 2/2. This is the first phase prototype of a reusable rocket line that will help send people to Mars.

This weekend, China’s Long March 5B (Truong Chinh 5B) missile will fall back to Earth. Instead of falling into the sea as originally planned, the Long March 5B was orbiting the Earth and lost control. The silence from the China National Space Administration (CNSA) coupled with the rocket’s too fast travel speed makes scientists at other space research institutions do not have enough computational data, see rockets. Where will it fall. Hard to have human casualties The Long March 5B missile is 30 meters long, weighs 22.5 tons, and when it falls to the ground the equivalent of a small plane falling and debris flying 160 km away. This is the comment of Jonathan McDowell, an astronomer at the Harvard-Smithsonian Center for Astrophysics. In 2020, a 50 meter long fragment also from a Chinese rocket crashed into the Atlantic, just 13 minutes after passing New York City with 9 million inhabitants. However, a 12-meter-long piece may have crashed in a village on Ivory Coast, according to the report The Verge , from the source of the local newspaper Afriksoir. The villagers heard a loud explosion, lightning, and noise at the same time that scientists calculated missile debris. The 12-meter-long debris that fell on the village of Mahounou on Ivory Coast in May 2020 is believed to have belonged to the Truong Chinh 5B missile. Photo: Afrik Soir. The orbits re-enter the atmosphere of rockets, which are inherently difficult to predict, because they travel at speeds of thousands of kilometers per hour. Scientists can only calculate accuracy after the rocket has returned to the atmosphere and began to fall. However, according to Mr. McDowell’s estimates, there will be no loss of life. Rockets will usually be burned most of the time when they pass through the atmosphere. Only a few parts, which are designed to be more heat resistant, can fall back to Earth. However, with a planet’s surface area of ​​up to 75% that is water, and also much of the ground uninhabited, the probability that missile debris could fall right where humans are inhabited is very low. “The worst scenario is that when a small piece falls on a person, that person is more likely to die. The probability that a lot of people get a debris fall is not high,” said Jonathan McDoWell. With a landing speed of about 160 km / h, debris falling on structures and vehicles will also leave great consequences. However, since the debris will fall in an area up to 160 km in diameter, the likelihood that they will fall into an inhabited, residential area is also very low. The Long March 5B missile contains the core module of the new space station. Photo: Getty Images. According to the Independent Over the past decade there have been about 100 satellites, and the wreckage of the missile returns to Earth every year, with a total mass of 150 tons. However, most of them do not cause serious consequences. The mass of space junk that fell in 2020 is the fourth largest block to fall back to Earth in history, after the Skylab space station in 1979, the Skylab’s rocket deck in 1975, and the Salyut-7, the Soviet space station, At 1991. Big problem with space junk This is not the first time that CNSA has had problems with objects landing on Earth from space. In 2018, the Tiangong-1 space station freely fell into the Pacific, between Australia and Chile. The Ivory Coast incident in May 2020 was also caused by another Long March 5B missile. Although there is little potential to cause material or life damage, the disposal of rockets and satellites out of use still leaves many scientists a headache. When a satellite expires, becomes unusable, it resumes its orbit. A boosters after completing a mission to put the spacecraft into orbit will also be left in the air. And when two objects in the universe collide with each other and create millions of debris, they are also left in space. Cosmic debris are surrounding the Earth. Photo: Nikkei. No one has put a ship on board and collects debris in space. All materials left by humans so far are known as cosmic trash. NASA scientist Donald Kessler believes that colliding with two large pieces of space debris can create a domino effect, causing thousands of smaller debris to continue orbiting the Earth. Mr. Kessler warns there will be a day when space junk becomes so much that we cannot launch a satellite without hitting another object. By then, we will be prisoners on our own planet, and will not blame anyone else but humans. As for the controllable missiles, the space agencies will calculate to bring them back to Point Nemo, which is considered the “graveyard” of spacecraft in the ocean. With the closest distance to the mainland of 2,250 km, the South Pacific Ocean is considered the “pole of the ocean” and is no different than a desert region in the middle of the sea.

On April 29, at the Van Xuong spacecraft launch center in Hainan province, China successfully launched the first module of the Tianhe space station with the Truong Chinh 5B rocket, marking an important step in the build the country’s own space station. However, instead of falling to a predetermined place in the sea like the previous rockets, the central stage of the Truong Chinh 5B boosters started spinning around the Earth in a low orbit in a state of out-of-control. With a weight of about 21 tons, 30m long and 5m wide, the remnants of the Truong Chinh 5B rocket are flying in orbit around the Earth every 90 minutes / rev, at a speed of 27,600 km / h at an altitude of over 300 kilometer. Since the end of last week until now, this remaining part has decreased altitude by nearly 80km. According to the observations of underground amateur astronomers, this missile is in a very unstable state. Some calculations show that the central floor of the Truong Chinh 5B missile will plunge into the atmosphere on May 8. When it crosses the Earth’s atmosphere, it could be burned, but it is likely that large pieces of the missile will remain and will fall scattered over an area of ​​160km wide. Worth mentioning, this is not the first time that China’s Truong Chinh 5B missile has fallen into a state of out-of-control during the biosphere. In May 2020, a similar incident happened. Beijing is expected to have at least 10 more similar launches, bringing all additional equipment into orbit, before completing the station by 2022. China’s Truong Chinh 5B missile was launched into orbit on April 29 at the Wenchang launch pad, southern China. . Prior to the US Space Command’s forecast that the 2021-035B Truong Chinh 5B (Long March 5B or Chang Zheng 5B) missile core, called 2021-035B, was capable of falling uncontrollably on Earth on the day. May 8-9, many people questioned: Will Russia or the US plan to use the missile to shoot the core of the Truong Chinh 5B missile, to save the planet’s citizens? On May 6, the US said it was tracking the object’s path, but had no plans to shoot it down. Cosmic garbage Australia currently holds the record as the country that contains the largest space waste in the world. In 1979, the 77-ton American SkyLab space station disintegrated in Western Australia, leaving the area around the coastal town of Esperance splashed by debris. Although no deaths or serious injuries have been reported from being hit by these cosmic debris, it is quite dangerous. Just a year before the fall of SkyLab, a Soviet remote sensing satellite, Cosmos 954, crashed into a barren area of ​​Canada’s Northwest Territory, spreading radioactive debris over several hundred square kilometers. As the Cold War was at its height, the nuclear sensitivity of the Cosmos 954 led to unfortunate delays in locating and cleaning the wreck. Who has to pay for cleaning? International law sets out a compensation regime that applies in many cases of damage on Earth, as well as when satellites collide in space. The 1972 conventions, a United Nations treaty, impose liability for the damage caused by space debris, which includes a regime of absolute liability as they fall to Earth like fragments. crumbs. In the case of Long March 5B, this would impose potential liability on China. The new treaty has only been invoked once before (for the Cosmos 954 incident) and therefore may not be considered a incentive. Of course, this legal framework only applies after the damage has occurred. In 1978, a Soviet nuclear-powered satellite crashed in northern Canada, resulting in a $ 3,000,000 fine for the tundra radioactive cleanup for Canada.

Photo of the Ingenuity Mars helicopter taken by NASA’s Preseverance spacecraft. Photo: NASA. Open a new door Ingenuity attached to the belly of the Perseverance probe landed together inside Mars’ 45 km wide Jezero crater on February 18. On April 3, a solar-powered helicopter was dropped from Perseverance’s belly. NASA is expected to make history on the Red Planet with its first self-powered flight powered by energy. “That is extremely important. Technological inventions will open a door to completely different tools. And for me, that’s very interesting. We still haven’t envisioned all the benefits of this new technology, ”said Thomas Zurbuchen, NASA’s Deputy Administrator. Ingenuity is considered a “technology show”. Because, the expected flight of this helicopter on Mars is designed simply to demonstrate the efficiency of the technology. Although there is an onboard camera to take pictures during the mission, it’s the only feature on the plane that is not directly related to Ingenuity’s take-off. “The speed of light is too slow for us to actually control it in real time,” said Mr. Zurbuchen. In addition, the team must find a way for the helicopter to fly over Mars in a challenging environment, with a very thin atmosphere. Obviously, flying on another planet is not easy for helicopters. This is an exciting moment in the history of spacecraft and technology. Many people questioned whether Ingenuity was equipped with any technology application to achieve such a feat. Scientists hope to use Ingenuity to explore in the future, according to Zurbuchen. Because, a small helicopter can “probe many places that we can not go to by plane”. The expert also explains that Mars has some interesting things. The crater walls and other destinations will be interesting to study up close, while astronauts won’t be able to explore. In the future, helicopters could be an important asset for both robot and human exploration on the Red Planet, Mr. Zurbuchen said. However, as mentioned before, Mr. Zurbuchen said, there are many applications to this technology that are yet to be developed. Science breakthrough The deployment of the Ingenuity helicopter flight plan on Mars aims to demonstrate that humans can fly in the extremely low density, reduced gravity and extreme temperatures of the red planet. In addition, the amount of sunlight the planet receives is only half that of Earth; At night temperatures down to -90 degrees C cause electronic components to crack and freeze if left unprotected. While a mission on Mars is not an easy task, NASA is confident that this small helicopter can overcome the challenge. However, the first flight will be at low altitude and take place shortly. Members of the mission group said, Ingenuity (weighing 1.8 kg) is expected to fly no more than 3 meters above the floor of the Jezero crater on Mars. The helicopter will stay high for 40 seconds or so. However, even such a modest flight time would be an achievement. Because, Mars’ atmosphere is only 1% thicker of Earth. Aircraft generate lift by pushing air. However, according to Project Director Ingenuity – MiMi Aung, of the NASA Jet Propulsion Laboratory (JPL) in Southern California, on Mars, there are fewer molecules to propel. That disadvantage outweighs the benefit that helicopters get from Mars’ weaker gravity. So Ingenuity has to behave a little differently from its predecessors on Earth. Specifically, Ingenuity propellers are made of carbon fiber, made for Mars. They are particularly large compared to the overall 48 cm high helicopter. Each wing extends 1.2 m. Those propellers will spin at about 2,500 rpm to bring Ingenuity off the ground. This is much faster than that required by a 4lb motor. Besides, Mars is also a place where the cold is “piercing”. Perseverance measured the Red Planet’s nighttime temperature to minus 117.4 degrees F (minus 83 degrees C) on the surface of Jezero. So Ingenuity has a fireplace so it won’t freeze. Currently, it takes more than 15 minutes for an order to be sent from the control agency on Earth to Mars. Real-time operation with the joystick is therefore not an option. Flight orders must be sent in advance. However, that doesn’t mean Ingenuity is going to be in trouble. This helicopter will be able to do many tasks on its own. For example, Ingenuity can analyze photos captured by the downward-facing camera. From there, locate it. The images will be in black and white. Ingenuity is also capable of 13-megapixel color photography. There are a series of complicated devices that are inserted into the “small body” of Ingenuity, although the helicopter does not carry any scientific tools. Cameras, electrical systems, avionics systems, and communications equipment for data transfer to Perseverance were all introduced into Ingenuity. In fact, the size of devices like objects has made it impossible for many helicopter missions on Mars. Ms. Aung and her colleagues tested Ingenity extensively on Earth before launching. Ingenuity used to have to fly in a special chamber at the JPL – which simulates the conditions of the Red Planet. Thanks to that, Ingenuity has been doing well on the Jezero crater since its separation from Perseverance. Therefore, the scientists expressed confidence in Ingenuity’s mission. If successful, Ingenuity will fly again – up to 5 times in about a month. Ingenuity helicopters pave the way for future space exploration.

Illustration. That could improve your chances of discovering organisms in distant worlds. How to find exoplanets Since 1999, a process of detecting exoplanets called the transit method has found thousands of other worlds by measuring the brightness of the stars that these planets orbit around. No one knows if these planets have any life, but if scientists observe the Earth using this method, they will probably detect signs of life. Once those signs are identified from Earth observations, experts can then find similar clues in the exoplanets. Scientists have recently described this approach as a mission called the Earth Transit Observer (ETO). This year, they presented this at the 52nd Moon and Planetary Science Conference. Most of the exoplanets we know of are found by transit, according to the US NASA Space Agency. Modern telescopes such as the Kepler Space Telescope and the Exoplanet Survey Satellite (TESS) can detect exoplanets when the path of a planet dims a star’s light overnight. slice. This is true even for stars thousands of light-years away. Scientists can estimate the magnitude of a planet based on the amount of light it is blocking and calculate the size of its orbit. The size and temperature of a host star as well as the distance between the planet and the star will provide additional clues as to whether exoplanets have life or not. The measure of transit can also hint at an exoplanet’s atmosphere. During a transit, a star’s light is filtered through atmospheric molecules. This could help researchers identify elements like oxygen and methane there. Such signs are often so small that astronomers need more transit observations to confirm the existence of these elements – according to a statement by the scientists. However, other factors on exoplanets and stars can affect the reading of molecules in the atmosphere. For example, planets change with the seasons, weather patterns and ocean currents. In addition, the activity of the Sun, such as the rise and fall of the solar wind, and the formation of solar storms also change. Any of these conditions can shape the behavior of the atmosphere, thus potentially affecting the proportion of molecules and elements in their atmosphere. Illustration. Finding “New Earth” Lead author Laura Mayorga of the planet-finding mission article in the Journal of Planetary Science says that, to understand those variables, “you need to know your stars as well as predict your planets. what do you look like ”. This can be a challenge when both the stars and the exoplanets are alien. “This is a very difficult problem,” says exoplanet astronomer at Johns Hopkins University’s Applied Physics Laboratory in Laurel Maryland (USA). Luckily, scientists already have all of those answers for a pair of inhabited planets and stars. That is our Earth and the Sun. For the ETO mission, a small satellite with a device capable of imaging near-violet to near-infrared light spectrum will observe the Earth as it passes in front of the Sun. The spectrophotometer will check for water and carbon dioxide markers as well as biological markers – oxygen and methane, ozone and methane. Besides, it is to point out the favorable conditions for life (of course, also to see if the signs are unique to Earth or not). The transit technique used in such an investigation would be similar to the technique used by the James Webb Space Telescope (JWST) to study some of the thousands of exoplanets, scientists say. know moving through their host stars ”. Since we all know the climate change on Earth and the patterns of the Sun’s activity, scientists can observe how they affect the reading of atmospheric molecules and then apply them to our observations. close to the “new Earth”. “The Solar System is the only place where we know all the answers. We can test our technique, point out limitations and make a connection between the results, ”said Mayorga in the statement -“ Then we can connect that with Unanswered observations from exoplanets ”. Scientists plan to submit the ETO proposal to NASA’s Astrophysical Pioneer Program in the fall of 2021.

Factory DAC. After 2050, we still have to double our efficiency. Currently, the fastest and most powerful solution is CO2 extraction by DAC method. For one thing, it takes 30,000 large-capacity DAC (Direct Air Capture) plants, estimated to cost $ 15,000 billion. Direct CO2 filter Since the Paris Agreement was signed in 2015, the world has made many efforts to reduce CO2. The most popular solution is afforestation, but this way of “green” still has many potential risks. First, afforestation takes space and time. It requires a large investment, likely to push food prices five times higher. Second, even when the Earth is completely green, forests will only absorb 30% of the annual emissions that need to be treated. Third, the plant itself is the “receptor for CO2”. If not handled properly upon death, they will turn out to be harmful to humans. “Humanity needs a faster, more drastic solution”, Steve Oldham (USA) affirmed. He introduced the initiative of Carbon Engineering Company: DAC Factory, removed CO2 by the method of direct air capture (DAC). The DAC method was invented in 1999. It operates on the principle of absorbing air, leading to an alkaline environment, isolating and compressing to preserve CO2. The experimental DAC plant was built in Squamish, British Columbia, Canada. It is installed with a series of giant fan tubes on the roof, sucking in ambient air. Currently, CO2 makes up about 0.04% of the air. Carbon Engineering fan duct connected to a filtration system consists of 3 chambers. The first chamber contains alkali potassium hydroxide (KOH) solution. When the air passes through, the KOH reacts with CO2, forming potassium bicarbonate (KHCO3). The KHCO3 formed is led to a second chamber containing calcium hydroxide (Ca (OH) ₂). It reacts, forming limestone and being expelled into the third chamber. In the third chamber, the heated limestone decomposes, creating pure CO2. The DAC recycles the catalyst residue, forming a closed and repeating loop. It captures CO2 without releasing waste. “We are miserable with climate change and the cause of it is excess CO2” – Oldham said – “But with the DAC plant, you can purify this emissions anywhere and anywhere. when”. Cost “huge” CO2 can be commercialized by selling it to agriculture. The world is emitting about 36 billion tons of CO2 / year. “To avoid the risk of global warming, we need to successfully remove 10 billion tons of CO2 / year”, ecologist Jane Zelikova (Ukraine) said. To remove 10 billion tons of CO2 / year, a widespread DAC system is needed, with a total of 30,000 factories. Each year, these three thousand plants require 4 million tons of KOH. They also need a huge amount of energy to operate, estimated to account for up to one-sixth of total global energy. The cost of building a DAC factory is 500 million USD. With 30,000 factories, mankind has to spend 15,000 billion USD. “We need to filter 800 billion tons of CO2 out of the atmosphere,” Oldham said. Recently, many philanthropists and large corporations have expressed their support for DAC. Billionaire and philanthropist Elon Musk (South African American) pledges $ 100 million to develop CO2 capture technology by this method. Microsoft, United Airlines, ExxonMobil … also enthusiastically invested billions of dollars. Until now, estimates of the cost of capturing CO2 in the air have been very expensive. It ranges from 100 to 1,000 USD / ton. Oldham believes that the DAC industry will help lower it to only 94 USD / ton. Big bet Mankind sees CO2 as an enemy, wanting to be wiped out from the atmosphere. Did you know that in the business sector, compressed CO2 is still a valuable commodity? In Switzerland, Climeworks (a CO2 capture center) is compressing CO2 with an efficiency of 900 tons / year. They sell it to greenhouses that increase crop yields. Unfortunately, the most potential customer of compressed CO2 is the fossil fuel industry – the most terrible CO2 emission sector. Petroleum is a finite source of energy, but can be renewable by adding CO2. Occidental Petroleum Company in Texas signed a contract with Carbon Engineering to build a large-scale DAC plant. They aim to filter and utilize 50 million tons of CO2 / year, used for the purpose of increasing oil regeneration. Naturally, this amount of CO2 will be re-emitted in the new oil. It makes efforts to remove CO2 “evenly”. “We must admit, DAC is an expensive solution”, businessman and writer Chris Goodall (UK) said. The problem is that humanity urgently needs to deal with its excess CO2. If we are late, we could pay a heavy price. Losses caused by natural disasters from climate change are extremely severe. It is even able to exceed the amount of money spent operating DACs by many times. The more you hesitate and delay, the more CO2 increase cannot be controlled. The role of DAC is to control emissions. For tomorrow, mankind may have to accept today’s costly. In the event of failure to do business, Iceland proposes mineralization. They succeeded by mixing CO2 into water, pumping down basalt layers in the ground 500 – 600m deep. After about 2 years, CO2 self-changes into calcite (limestone). Waiting time for mineralization, CO2 mixed in water. CO2 containing water is heavier than normal, sinks deeply, so it does not affect the quality of floating water. In other words, the mineralization of CO2 ensures ecological safety.

Most planets in the universe are not suitable for us to live in. With the current environment in the planets, imagine how, if we humans lived there, the body would change. Mars Gravity is lower on Mars than on Earth and it is further away from the Sun, so if we live on Mars, we will see less sunlight. Mars also lacks a protective magnetic field due to its thin atmosphere, everything there, including humans, is exposed to radiation. Occasionally, strong winds create dust storms that fly across the planet, and dust continues to settle for months to come. So if you go to live on Mars, you may be taller, stronger body to compensate for the poor gravity. You will have big eyes for better visibility when the Sun is too far away. In addition, the main pigment in your body changes from melanin to carotenoids (carrots, tomatoes and oranges). So your skin is likely to be orange. Jupiter Living on the surface of Jupiter is challenging because the planet has no real surface. It is purely air. However, this does not mean it is just a giant cloud suspended in space. If you travel through its atmosphere to deeper parts, the gas will become dense until it turns into a liquid. In a nutshell, Jupiter is an ocean layer made up of hydrogen instead of water. With such high pressure, extreme temperatures and liquid environments, humans would have to mimic creatures that live in deep water. We would be like animals with small legs and hard shells to protect the body from Jupiter’s radiation. Saturn Saturn is also a giant cloud of hydrogen and helium, with no soil or no wind. However, inside it is much denser and much smaller than Jupiter. Its iconic belts are made of countless ice particles, so nothing can live on this planet. The Saturn rings are innumerable ice particles. Saturn’s weight is too small, so it can float in a bath if there is a tub large enough to hold. The only way to get around in the dense mist of Saturn is to hover around like a jellyfish. Your body will not have a skeleton so that it cannot be crushed by the pressure. Mercury Life on Mercury is extremely difficult. This tiny planet is closest to the Sun, so the sunlight here is seven times bigger than Earth, no sunscreen can resist. Mercury’s temperature is extremely extreme, around 430 ° C during the day and -180 ° C at night. The planet is also prone to meteor shower and earthquakes. There is no atmosphere here to breathe. How must we change to accommodate Mercury? Meat and bones can never withstand the harsh conditions here. So to live in Mercury, our bodies must be made of something similar to the refractory metal, for example, titanium. There’s no need for a respiratory system, so your pretty metal face won’t have a nose. And your eyes will be like a thick sunglasses to protect them from the sun’s light. Venus If there’s a place that’s harder to live than Mercury, it’s definitely Venus. The temperature here is a whopping 471 ° C. The atmosphere is extremely thick, creating a greenhouse effect. The planet’s surface is very dry, there are many natural disasters such as volcanic eruptions, hurricane winds and lightning. The pressure here is like you are 1 mile underwater, giving you constant headaches. Unfortunately, the only thing that can exist on Venus is bacteria. Venus corrode everything, even metal, making it impossible for human spacecraft to stop here. Venus’s atmosphere contains phosphine, which is toxic to any organism that breathes oxygen, but is very beneficial for bacterial growth. Uranus, Neptune Frozen, dark and plagued by strong winds, Uranus and Neptune are mostly made up of cold liquids – methane, water and ammonia. They do not have a solid surface, and their atmospheres slowly mix with the water around the cores of other planets. Gravity is stronger here than on Earth and puts more pressure on everything. With such a strong gravity, the human body living here would have to be shorter and muscular, muscular, and thicker in skin to resist the cold. And for the liquid environment here, the best form to live in is a cosmic dolphin or manatee, making it easier to navigate around the planet. The Pluto Pluto is the planet farthest from the Sun, covered with ice and snow. Gravity is extremely weak and the atmosphere is fragile. The sun seen from Pluto is just a dot on the horizon, like the Moon to Earth, so there won’t be much light. However, scientists believe that there may be ocean water below Pluto’s surface. If you live on Pluto, your body needs antifreeze, like some insects and fish. Low gravity causes muscles and bones to shrink, the space between the vertebrae expands and makes us taller. Human posture will also change as the spine is not doing too much. So you can be tall, thin, and somewhat spiderman with flexible limbs and a curved spine.

Even though there is news of reduced CO2 emissions into the atmosphere in the early stages of a pandemic, the risk of climate change remains evident. New research has shown that, even after a year of decommissioning and production cessation, global greenhouse gas emissions continue to increase at an unceasing rate. To mitigate the worst effects of climate change, the researchers note, humanity needs to focus purposefully on reducing fossil fuel emissions to close to zero, but even less. In that case, humans also need to find ways to further remove greenhouse gases from the atmosphere. Covid-19 is believed to have contributed to change in planetary climate; Source: topnewsrussia.ru The rapidly changing climate is caused by human activities and this is a scientific conclusion. Back in 1988, scientists put the issue of global warming on the agenda, emphasizing that humanity is facing a “climate emergency”. In 2020, 11,000 scientists around the world released a statement with the same name, calling for immediate action. According to the scientific community, our failure to reduce the amount of carbon dioxide (CO2) in the atmosphere will turn unusually hot waves, storms, wildfires and melting glaciers “a daily thing” and could “make the a large area of ​​uninhabitable Earth ”. Researchers noted that the world leaders’ actions against climate change cannot be called enough and effective. At the same time, the media’s response to the Covid-19 epidemic, such as the use of masks and social isolation, illustrated a useful, effective model of action. People should do the same with climate change. Since CO2 has remained in the atmosphere for decades, the longer humans wait for decisive action, the more extreme the weather, and the more likely it is to pass points of no return or out of control. Covid-19 pandemic and global warming A pandemic may have little effect on climate change, but Covid-19 can certainly teach us a lot about the global threats that exist. Recently, researchers from King’s College London have concluded that countries that are better prepared for a climate emergency have much more advantages in dealing with the Covid-19 pandemic. More importantly, the scientists also concluded that countries should treat the climate crisis as a pandemic. Research taking data from 110 countries shows that societies “in which people care about each other” cope better with pandemics. The work highlights the urgent need to invest in both climate action and public health infrastructure so countries can better prepare for similar disasters in the future, as Sciencealert writes. By looking at the social, economic and health measures each country is proposing to deal with the pandemic, the King University researchers found a lack of “social cohesion” in America. and Western Europe led to an increase in Covid-19 mortality. More than 71% of emissions since 1988 are believed to have been generated by 100 of the world’s super corporations; Source: topnewsrussia.ru Last year, the economic slowdown caused by the global pandemic cut CO2 emissions by about 7%, which according to some studies, only 10% of this initial sharp drop was due to air travel. reduction. Another study shows that the Covid-19 pandemic will only cool the planet by about 0.01 ° C by 2030. This is a small difference, but the good news is that if combined, then cut. By investing in fossil fuels, we can avoid warming of 0.3 ° C in the future by 2050. “Increased fossil fuel emissions may not be entirely the cause of the increase in methane concentrations in the Earth’s atmosphere, but a reduction in fossil fuel emissions,” says chemist Ed Dlugokenski. is an important step to climate change mitigation. Reality shows that, even if people around the world decide to stay home, travel less, fly less and consume less, it’s still not a solution, because 71% more emissions since 1988 have been generated by only 100 of the world’s super companies. These are companies and the systems related to these companies need to be changed. Therefore, it will take more than one global pandemic to address the climate crisis.

A day of bad air pollution recorded in New Delhi in January 2021 – Photo: AFP Chiang Rai is one of Thailand’s most beautiful provinces, with undulating hills, forests, elephant camps and top quality agricultural products. At the northernmost point of Chiang Rai is the confluence of the majestic Mekong River, which flows down from China and the Ruak River. Located on a nearby mountain slope, Anantara Golden Triangle Resort is one of a number of 5-star resorts attracting hikers, elephant lovers and landscape lovers. However, last week, only a few rooms here had guests staying. According to Nikkei Aisa, it was not the Covid-19 epidemic, but the haze in the dry season every year, making the scenery not only lose its breathtaking appearance but also toxic. The concentration of PM2.5 – fine dust with a diameter of less than 2.5 μm in the air – measured here on April 4 is nearly 400 micrograms / m3 of air, nearly 40 times higher than the safety level of the group. World Health Organization (WHO). Tourists wearing masks in Chiang Mai, Thailand in April 2019. For at least 15 years, this region has recorded many days with the highest PM2.5 in the world. Dust covered the northern provinces of Thailand. For at least the past 15 years, Chiang Mai, the neighboring province of Chiang Rai, has seen many days with the highest PM2.5 in the world. Unlike many parts of Asia, the air pollution crisis in northern Thailand was not caused by factories, cheap fuels and transportation, but from fires caused by intentional burning and burning agricultural by-products. “ENTRANCE DAY” OF ASIA Thailand’s green north, which has no industrial zones, is now at the heart of the global air pollution crisis. As recommended by the World Health Organization, the safe level of PM2.5 concentrations averaged 10 micrograms per cubic meter of air annually. Currently, however, less than 8% of the world’s population can breathe that safe atmosphere. And nowhere in the world has this index worse than Asia. According to the Swiss air quality technology firm IQAir, in the ranking of the worst air pollution cities in the world last year, the top 148 cities were all in the Asia-Pacific region. Thailand’s city of Chiang Rai was covered in smoke from forest fires and straw burning in 2019 – Photo: Getty Images According to a study published in the Journal of Cardiology Research in 2015, the air pollution death rate has caused nearly 8.8 million deaths globally, of which nearly 6.5 million are in Europe. ASIAN. This is becoming one of the most serious public health risks globally, even more so than cigarettes. In terms of health threats, the response to air pollution and the Covid-19 epidemic is completely different. Because, while a huge public budget is allocated to control the spread of the disease, addressing air pollution has remained largely flat. However, the annual number of deaths due to dust is many times higher than that of the more than 300,000 deaths caused by the Covid-19 pandemic last year in Asia, according to data compiled on worldometers.info. For many years, health agencies have raised the alarm about air quality in Asia. China’s so-called “doomsday atmosphere” has set off a decade of alarming about the serious health effects of air pollution. This situation has gradually improved thanks to strict Beijing measures. Bangladesh, India and Pakistan are now replacing China with the worst air quality in the world. “The world has turned its back on cigarettes, but now it has to deal with ‘new cigarettes’ – the toxic air that billions of people breathe every day,” World Health Organization Director-General Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus said. “No country, rich or poor, can escape air pollution. This is a silent public health emergency.” A coal-fired power plant of Huaneng Shandong Rui Group is owned by the Chinese government in Sahiwal, Pakistan – Photo: Getty Images One of the reasons that Asia is hit hard by air pollution is its high population density. Top 4 countries with the most population density in the world have 3 Asian representatives: China, India and Indonesia. The total population of these three countries is 3.1 billion, accounting for about 39.2% of the global population. INDONESIA: SWEETS In Indonesia, fires caused by forest clearing are the cause of serious pollution. Seven out of 10 ASEAN countries were affected by haze caused by burning fires in Indonesia, according to a Greenpeace report. In particular, Singapore and Malaysia were most affected. The report, released after two decades of research, says the haze “causes widespread health problems including lung and cardiovascular disease”. In 2015, scientists at Harvard and Columbia Universities (USA) estimated that haze caused about 100,000 premature deaths in Indonesia, Malaysia and Singapore. According to estimates of the World Bank (WB), the haze caused more than 16 billion USD in damage to the Indonesian economy. In February, Mr. Mohammad Mahfud MD, Indonesia’s Security Minister, said the total area affected by forest fires last year was nearly 300,000 hectares. This figure, although improved compared to 2019, is still 5 times larger than the area of ​​the capital Jakarta. In 2019, about 1.6 million hectares of forests in Indonesia were burned, leaving at least 900,000 people with respiratory problems. Economic loss of the eight affected provinces is 5.2 billion USD. INDIA AND PAKISTAN: GENERAL POINT OF CONTAMINATION According to IQAir 2020, in terms of PM2.5 fine dust concentration, the air quality in the Indian city of Delhi has improved by about 15% compared to 2019 thanks to nationwide blockade measures to prevent Covid-19 epidemics. . However, this is still the city with the worst pollution levels in the world. By 2020, air pollution is estimated to have killed some 54,000 people in the Indian capital, causing $ 8.1 billion in damages – or 13 percent of Delhi’s GDP, according to Greenpeace and IQAir. The (avoidable) air pollution deaths in Mumbai and Bangalore cities are 25,000 and 12,000, respectively. Smoke enveloped the Indian Gate in New Delhi on December 25, 2018 – Photo: Nikkei Asia India has 22 representatives in the top 30 most polluted cities in the world. Despite improving over the past few years, the country’s air pollution remains at a “dangerously high level”, according to a Greenpeace report. The annual average PM2.5 concentration of Delhi is 84.1 micrograms / m3 of air. For comparison, Beijing’s figures are 37.5, Seoul 20.9, Paris 12.2 and London 9.6. India and Pakistan have something in common about pollution: Vehicle dust. IQAir ranks Pakistan as the second most polluted country in the world and is estimated that about 20% of deaths in the country are related to air pollution. Malik Amin Aslam, Pakistan’s climate change minister, said 40 percent of the haze in the country was caused by vehicle emissions. Some other causes are industrial emissions and crop burning around the Lahore region and the border in India. “In Pakistan, the use of dirty fuels has exacerbated air pollution,” said Ahmad Rafay Alam, environmental lawyer at Lahore and Yale World Fellow. To mitigate the air pollution crisis, the Pakistani government has set a target to increase the sales of electric vehicles to about 30% of total vehicle sales by 2020, while also requiring the import of only fuels that meet Euro-V standards. . However, Mr. Ahmad Rafay Alam said that the fuel and electric vehicle import policy exists only on paper because the government has not taken practical steps to implement them. VIETNAM: THE PRICE OF GROWTH? According to GlobalData’s forecast, Vietnam is the most growing economy in ASEAN with real GDP growth of 8.5% this year. However, with this growth, concerns about the environment are increasing. According to a Q&M survey of nearly 800 people aged 18-49, 79% of respondents said that air pollution is their biggest environmental concern. 84% consider environmental problems to be more serious in 2020. According to official data, Vietnam lost about 10.8-13.2 billion USD per year due to air pollution. The Global Alliance for Health and Pollution estimated 50,232 people died from air pollution in Vietnam in 2017. Motorcyclists in Hanoi, Vietnam in 2019. In a recent survey, 79% of Vietnamese respondents said that air pollution is their biggest environmental concern – Photo: EPA PM2.5 concentrations around Hanoi and Ho Chi Minh City hit a particularly high level in November and December 2020. Facing this situation, the Ministry of Natural Resources and Environment has directed the local government to install an additional air monitoring system. Last January, the Prime Minister also issued a directive on air pollution control. The government recommends that people close windows, wear outdoor masks and wash their noses with salt water for both the young and the elderly. CHINA: DETERMINATION MEASURES China is ranked 14th out of 106 countries for IQAir’s 2020 air pollution level. However, this ranking has improved significantly compared to previous years when the country’s average PM2.5 concentration fell from 41.2 micrograms / m3 of air in 2018 to 34.7 last year (albeit still). 3 times the WHO safety standard). Over the past few years, China has taken drastic measures at the government level to clean up the atmosphere. Last year, Chinese President Xi Jinping announced a carbon neutral goal by 2060. Last January, China’s National Energy Administration was warned by the Ministry of Ecology and Environment for its negligence in controlling coal production. This is a rare reprimand in China’s state agencies. According to Nikkei Asia, China only really started to tackle its air pollution problem drastically in 2013, when coal could meet two-thirds of domestic electricity demand. China currently leads the world in solar power development at a significantly reduced cost relative to the world. The country’s electric vehicle and battery sectors also lead the world. Drastic measures by China in recent years include relocating polluting old factories. Earlier last year, 46 factories in Hebei province, near Beijing, were relocated to reduce industrial pollution, especially from steel, cement and glass production. The Forbidden City in Beijing was covered in smog in 2018 – Photo: Nikkei Asia However, not all solutions to China’s air pollution are environmentally friendly. The country’s push to build hydroelectricity to reduce coal use has raised environmental concerns in many Southeast Asian countries.

Berkeley Lab is pursuing negative emission technologies and related research to remove CO2 from the atmosphere. According to Jeffrey Long, senior scientist in the Berkeley Laboratory’s Materials Science Department, UC Berkeley Professor of Chemistry, MOFs are highly porous solid materials that act like a sponge. They are capable of absorbing large amounts of a specific gas molecule, like CO2. A special feature of MOFs is its high internal surface area. Therefore, if properly designed, a small amount of MOF can remove large amounts of CO2 from the flue gases produced during the burning of fossil fuels. “We have shown that MOFs can capture and release CO2, using a much smaller temperature change than is required by other technologies. This offers a great advantage over conventional methods of CO2 capture. Variations of MOF can be effective in removing CO2 from other gas mixtures, including biogas, natural gas and even directly from the air, ”explained Mr. Long. However, this expert emphasized, reducing the cost of direct gas collection is essential, because this process is extremely expensive. The cost of removing CO2 with such a technology is at 500 – 1,000 USD / ton. Therefore, Mr. Long said that in the future, researchers will create more efficient materials. As a result, it helps to reduce costs below 100 USD / ton. Besides, the main issue is the amount of energy required to regenerate the adsorbent. This means that the scientists want to release CO2 in its pure form. As a result, the material can then be reused to capture more CO2. “One of our research goals is to develop materials with high capacity, high capture rate, fast kinetics for CO2 adsorption and low regeneration temperature. At the same time, limit the co-adsorption of water so as not to waste energy on the desorption process “, Mr. Long said. According to the scientist, it is possible to find a way to achieve below $ 100 for each ton of CO2 removed from the air. However, scientists will have to do much of the research needed to achieve that. “We need to really rethink some of the ways materials are designed and understand how to manipulate things like delta-S (entropy) to adsorb CO2, so that less heat is needed to release CO2,” Mr. Long stressed.

Apple logo in San Francisco, California, USA. Photo: AFP / VNA On April 15, Apple announced an initiative to reduce carbon emissions with the Recovery Fund (RF), which aims to invest in forestry projects to reduce carbon emissions from the atmosphere while generating profits. for financial investors. Together with Conservation International and Goldman Sachs, Apple’s $ 200 million fund aims to remove at least 1 million tons of CO2 annually from the atmosphere, equivalent to the emissions of more than 200,000 passenger vehicles. According to the company “Apples Defect”, RF can help expand the scale of investment in forest rehabilitation. Conservation International will co-invest in RF while Goldman Sachs will take on the role of fund manager. Apple said the three sides will identify new projects later this year. Nature offers one of the best tools for removing carbon from the atmosphere, says Lisa Jackson, Apple’s vice president of environmental, policy and social initiatives. By setting up a fund that generates both financial returns as well as helping to reduce emissions, Apple seeks to promote broader change in the future, by encouraging investments in carbon removal across the country. bridge. Apple hopes that others will share its goals and contribute resources to support and protect ecosystems. In July 2020, Apple announced its goal of neutralizing 100% of its entire supply chain and product lifecycle by 2030 and directly eliminating 75% of its supply chain and product emissions. 2030. It is expected that RF will help solve the remaining 25% of Apple’s emissions by removing carbon from the atmosphere. During the past year, 15 Apple suppliers in China pledged to join the plan and shift Apple’s manufacturing operations to 100% renewable energy. Apple Vice President and CEO of Apple in China Isabel Ge Mahe said that as early as 2015, Apple has launched a long-term cooperation plan for many years with the World Natural Foundation to build more than 400,000 hectares of forests in China. to 2020./.

Illustration of lightning hitting Earth 4 billion years ago.

However, according to geologists, lightning strikes are just as important as meteorites to create perfect conditions for life on Earth.

Scientists believe that the minimum amount of minerals present on early Earth was caused by billions of lightning strikes.

Detect important minerals

A study published in Nature Communications led by scientist Benjamin Hess of the School of Earth and Environment, at the University of Leeds (UK) looked at the possibility that lightning could contribute to life.

The scientists found that life could develop on Earth-like planets through the same mechanism at any time if the atmospheric conditions were right.

Hess et al. Studied an exceptionally large and primitive fulgurite sample. This is a rock created when lightning strikes the ground. This model was formed when lightning struck a house in Glen Ellyn, Illinois (USA) in 2016 and donated to the Geology department at the nearby Wheaton College.

The Leeds researchers were initially interested in how fulgurite was formed, but were later intrigued when they discovered that there was an unusual amount of a phosphorus mineral called schreibersite in the sample at Glen Ellyn.

Phosphorus is essential for life and plays an important role in all life processes from movement to growth and reproduction. Phosphorus has been present on Earth since infancy and is in minerals that cannot be dissolved in water, however, schreibersite can.

Mr. Hess is a graduate student at Yale University, Connecticut (USA), said, “Many people believe that life on Earth originates from shallow surface waters according to the famous” small warm pond “concept of the house. Darwin Science ”.

“Most models of how life might form on the Earth’s surface show that meteors carry small amounts of schreibersite.

Our research found a relatively large amount of shreibersite in fulgurite “- he said -” Lightning hits the Earth regularly, which proves that phosphorus is necessary for the origin of life on the Earth’s surface not only. rely on asteroid collisions.

Perhaps more importantly, this also means that the formation of life on another Earth could still take place long after meteoric collisions became rare.

The phosphorus minerals produced by the lightning bolts exceeded those from meteorites when Earth was about 3.5 billion years old (the age of the earliest known microscopic fossils), the team estimated. That underscores the importance of lightning to life on Earth.

Furthermore, lightning bolts are much less destructive than meteorite collisions, meaning they are less likely to interfere with fragile evolutionary paths in which life can
develope.

The fulgurite was excavated in Glen Ellyn, Illinois (USA).

The role of lightning quantity

Lightning is also a topic of interest to scientists when thinking about life on Earth in the early days because it leads to the production of gases like nitrous oxide that played a role in the origin of life. .

Hess and his other researchers used this existing research to investigate and review the rate of lightning strikes on early Earth. Today, we have 560 million lightning strikes a year.

Meanwhile, early Earth, this number was from 1 to 5 billion per year, of which 100 million to 1 billion lightning strikes the ground. Over a billion years, lightning strikes can reach 1 trillion and generate a lot of phosphorus.

In the early days, lightning struck more on Earth because there was more carbon dioxide in the atmosphere. Carbon dioxide contributes to global temperatures and the higher the temperature, the more intense and frequent the storms are, Hess said.

“Carbon dioxide levels soared on Earth early after a Mars-sized object crashed into Earth and created the Moon 4.5 billion years ago. This also releases a lot of gas from inside the Earth, like carbon dioxide, which then gets trapped in the Earth’s atmosphere and leads to more lightning, ”explained Hess.

The fulgurite fragment is found in Glen Ellyn, Illinois (USA).

Expert review

Dr., Associate Professor of Geochemistry Jason Harvey and Professor of Geology and Structural Construction Sandra Piazolo at Leeds University’s School of Earth and Environment advised Mr. Hess on the above research project.

“The initial meteor bombardment was a one-time event in the Solar System,” said Dr. Harvey. When the planets reach their mass, the additional distribution of phosphorus from the meteorites becomes negligible.

On the other hand, lightning is not a one-off event, the elements necessary for the formation of life can thus be transferred to the surface of a planet. This means that life can appear on Earth-like planets at any given time.

Meanwhile, Professor Piazolo said: “The above interesting research opens the door to some future paths when searching for and analyzing in depth new fulgurite in the early Earth-like environment, analyzing The effect of heating on other minerals is to realize similar characteristics.

There is also a further analysis of this particularly well preserved fulgurite to determine the extent of the physical and chemical processes within it ”.

“All these studies will help to improve our understanding of the importance of fulgurite in changing the chemical environment of the Earth over time” – Professor Piazolo added.

According to research published in Nature, fishing operations emit about 1 billion tons of CO2 emissions per year – higher than those emitted by aviation (before the COVID pandemic – 19 ).

Industrial fishing, in particular the method of pulling nets along the seabed, not only contributes to climate change becoming more serious, but also greatly damages biodiversity. positive.

“This activity is the equivalent of plowing an old forest, repeating until there is nothing left,” report author Enric Sala, a marine biologist, points out.

Industrial fishing is also one of the least expensive fishing methods. Researcher Sala also said that most of the hunting grounds have been repeatedly caught, leaving little value left to catch.

Mr. Eric Sala is looking at possible dynamics that could cause the fishing industry and governments to abandon netting methods and hope the findings on the carbon footprint could be just a wake-up call.

The study of Mr. Sala et al. Breaks down the entire ocean into 50 square km units, measuring the extent to which each unit contributes to global marine biodiversity, fish stocks and climate protection, based on a complex analysis of the location, water temperature, salinity and distribution of species, among other factors.

At the same time, this study also monitors the amount of CO2 emissions each unit is capable of absorbing.

By mapping baselines for each previously divided unit, research can calculate the effects of an increase or decrease in fishing and other human activities.

The overall goal is to develop a map of ocean locations that, if protected, would be of maximum benefit to humans in increasing fish stocks, biodiversity and carbon sequestration while minimizing losses. income harm to the fishing industry.

Dismissing the long-held view that protecting oceans harm fisheries, research shows that marine protected areas designed to prevent overfishing will actually boost marine life. by acting as fish nurseries.

According to the study results, ocean protection could increase global fisheries production by more than 8 million tons per year, despite the challenges of overfishing and climate change.

“However, the fishing will have to stop,” said Mr Sala. While mangroves, kelp forests and sea grasslands have good carbon sequestration capacity, below the ocean floor is a large carbon sink.

Once fishermen’s nets are released into the ocean, the carbon gas is released back into the water. Excess carbon in the water turns it into acid, which is harmful to marine organisms.

Worse yet, this situation also affects the ocean’s ability to absorb carbon in the atmosphere: if seawater is saturated, it will not be able to absorb man-made emissions, limiting one of the The best “weapon” of man in the fight against climate change.

By combining publicly available data on the operations of fishing vessels globally with unit estimates of the amount of carbon stored in ocean sediment layers, researcher Sala and his team had The amount of emissions generated by this method can be calculated at the national level.

For example, the European Union emits 274,718,086 tons of carbon into the oceans each year, while Chinese fleets emit 769,294,185 tons and the US emits 19,373,438 tons.

Technological innovations such as green energy production and battery storage are critical to reducing global greenhouse gas emissions. But there is a need to reduce the amount of carbon in the atmosphere, and so far the technology has not been able to do it at a reasonable cost and scale.

Mr. Sala said the oceans have been absorbing carbon for thousands of years. “Most people still see oceans as victims of climate change. What people don’t realize is that nature is part of the solution to the climate crisis. ”

Sapphire

According to Time